Oil Companies together with the Bush and Trump administration have kept the global warming debate alive long after most scientists believed that global warming was real and had potentially catastrophic consequences. We need to be aware and to change this policy before we get to the point of no return............Amor Patriae

ECOLOGY AND ENERGY PRODUCTION

Friday, September 11, 2015

THE MYTHS OF 9/11 (UPDATE)

THE MYTHS OF 9/11

Tears, contemplation and solemn moments as the world reflects on the horror of that brutal September morning

Busting 9/11 Myths: Nanothermite, Big Nukes and DEWs

On the 12th observance of 9/11 there are still many questions surrounding the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings. The Official Conspiracy Theory (OCT) put forth by NIST and the 9/11 Commission posits that 19 hijackers (5 of whom turned up alive AFTER 9/11) flew commercial planes in to the Twin Towers and the damage from the impacts of the planes and resulting fires caused the Towers to collapse at free fall speed.

These magical planes also caused a third skyscraper (Building 7) to collapse at free fall speed in a vacuum some 25 minutes after the BBC had announced that it had collapsed even though no plane had hit it.

Obviously the government’s account is blatantly false. It stands to reason that if the government’s account of the events of 9/11 is not physically possible then it cannot be historically accurate. Historical events on the level of 9/11 shape the future for years, even generations to come. You will not be able to properly understand current events if you do not understand 9/11.

Once you come to the realization that the Zionists and Neocons in the Bush Regime acting at the behest of Israel were responsible for 9/11, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria make a lot more sense.

The Big Lies of 9/11 have been used to launch wars of Zionist Aggression abroad and erode our civil rights here in the US. The 9/11 Wars have killed over a million innocent civilians and drained the US treasury of trillions of dollars. All so that Israel can maintain hegemony over the Middle East.

In recent years these Big Lies have given way to several Alternate Myths. As the OCT loses credibility alternative theories such as nanothermite, directed energy weapons and Big Nukes have tried to bridge the gap. Just as the OCT has imploded so will these Alternate Myths.

The “Collapse” Theory

According to the government, the Twin Towers collapsed because the intense heat from the jet-fuel fires caused the steel to weaken (or, in some versions, the trusses to bow) to the extent that the top floors collapsed onto lower floors (or the trusses to collapse on other trusses), in a cascade of floors (or trusses) falling upon one another until both buildings were completely destroyed. Here is a schematic representation of the official theory, but there are also animated versions:

For anyone who has actually looked at the video sequence of their destruction, however, this theory is easily the least defensible. Gravity operates in one direction: down! But the Twin Towers are exploding in every direction from the top down. The buildings are being converted into millions of cubic yards of very fine dust. And when it was done, there was no stack of pancakes: they were destroyed below ground level! And, even worse, on the truss version, the core columns would have remained standing, like the spindle on a 45rpm record player after the records had been played.

Moreover, NIST studied 236 samples of steel from the Twin Towers and discovered that 233 had not been exposed to temperatures above 500*F and the other three not above 1200*F. Insofar as UL had certified the steel used in the towers to 2,000*F for three to four hours without incurring any adverse effects (either weakening or melting) and the fires in the South Tower only endured for about a hour and in the North an hour and a half, they could have burned forever at those temperatures and not caused any damage. If we want truth, we must consider other 3>

Major and minor dust samples

The group that dominates A&E911 and produced “Explosive Evidence”–Richard Gage, Steve Jones, Kevin Ryan and Neils Harrit, especially–have insisted that the key to understanding 9/11 is tiny chips of unexploded energetic material found in dust samples from apartments in the vicinity of “Ground Zero”, to which they refer as “nanothermite”. The catch turns out be that nanothermite is a feeble explosive that has 1/13 the force of TNT, the universal standard. Research by T. Mark Hightower, a chemical engineer, moreover, has shown that it only has a detonation velocity of 895m/s, which is far from the speed of sound in concrete and steel, which are 3,200m/s and 6,100m/s, respectively. Since it is a law of materials science that an explosive cannot destroy a material unless it has a detonation velocity equal to or greater than the speed of sound in that material. You can’t get there from there.

In 2002 Jeff Prager tried to prove 19 Muslims hijacked four planes and attacked us. By 2005, he realized this was false, sold his business, left the US and began to investigate 9/11 full-time. (See his 9/11 America Nuked.) In “Proof of Ternary Fission in New York City on 9/11″ he observes (1) that dust samples are the best evidence of what happened on 9/11; (2) that the US Geological Survey samples taken over a dozen locations show how various elements interacted prove that fission reaction(s) had taken place; (3) that Multiple Myeloma in the general population at a rate of 3-9 incidents per 100,000 people, but the rate was 18 per 100,000 among first responders; (4) that other cancers relatively unusual cancers have appeared among the responders, including non-Hodgkins lymphoma, leukemia, thyroid, pancreatic, brain, prostate, esophageal and blood and plasma cancers; and (5) that, as of March 2011 no less than 1,003 first responders died from various cancers.

The elements that have been found in these dust samples provide an astonishing array of proof that the destruction of the WTC was a nuclear event. How ironic that dust samples, which have been touted as the key to understanding 9/11, ARE the key, but not those studied by Gage, Jones, Ryan and Harrit! Consider the range and variety of the elements in the US Geological Survey’s dust samples, found at “Environmental Studies of the World Trade Center Area After the September 11, 2001 Attack” (Open-File Report 01-0429). Here’s a link to the chemistry table and another to the DOE report, “Study of Traces of Tritium at the World Trade Center” (UCRL-JC-150445):

Barium and Strontium: Neither of these elements should ever appear in building debris in these quantities. The levels never fall below 400ppm for Barium and they never drop below 700ppm for Strontium and reach over 3000ppm for both in the dust sample taken at Broadway and John Streets.

Thorium and Uranium: These elements only exist in radioactive form. Thorium is a radioactive element formed from Uranium by decay. It’s very rare and should not be present in building rubble, ever. So once again we have verifiable evidence that a nuclear fission event has taken place.

Lithium: With the presence of lithium we have compelling evidence that this fission pathway of Uranium to Thorium and Helium, with subsequent decay of the Helium into Lithium has taken place.

Lanthanum: Lanthanum is the next element in the disintegration pathway of the element Barium.

Yttrium: The next decay element after Strontium, which further confirms the presence of Barium.

Chromium: The presence of Chromium is one more “tell tale” signature of a nuclear detonation.

Tritium: A very rare element and should not be found at concentrations 55 times normal the basement of WTC-6 no less than 11 days after 9/11, which is another “tell tale” sign of nukes.

The clinchers though are the USGS dust samples and the Department of Energy (DOE) water samples. The USGS dust samples not only show elevated levels of elements such as uranium, thorium, barium, strontium, yttrium, chromium, copper, zinc, sodium and potassium, they show that the quantities of a dozen elements rising and falling predictably over a dozen sample locations. The only process that can explain this is nuclear fission. The DOE collected water samples from the basement of Six World Trade 11 days after 9/11 that contained tritium at 55 times background levels. This proves nuclear fusion took place.

Dimitri Khalezov recently published an article where he makes the case that three 150 kt nukes were detonated 100 meters underground on 9/11 (aka the Big-Nuke Theory). In order to maintain the viability of his theory he states that several pieces of evidence including seismic readings, toasted cars and photographs were faked. Our approach has been to come up with a theory that fits the evidence rather than having to claim this photo or that report was faked. The WTC Mini-Nuke Theory explains what was observed at Ground Zero. Khalezov’s Big-Nuke theory simply cannot account for the gross observable evidence.

Recap of the Mini-Nuke Theory

After reading Dimitri’s article it appears that he believes that we are stating that merely one or two mini-nukes were placed in the basement of the Twin Towers and that was responsible for all of the destruction. Obviously that scenario could not explain what is observed at Ground Zero. Our philosophy is that the destruction was caused by multiple low-yield nuclear bombs and not three big ones. The perpetrators objective was to nuke the WTC buildings without making it look like they nuked the buildings. This schematic is not intended to illustrate the specific way in which it was done but rather to give a visual indication of some of the available options:

The WTC Mini-Nuke Theory postulates that there were perhaps 5-11 mini-neutron nukes placed the core columns of the Twin Towers as well as several underground mini-nukes. There were a series of underground explosions before each Tower starts coming down. The mini-nukes in the core columns were detonated sequentially from top to bottom and configured to explode upward. The top to bottom demolition sequence was intended to simulate a free fall gravitational collapse which was the cover story.

If they took out one cube of 10 floors per second, then the time of destruction of the North Tower would have been 11 seconds and of the South–where the top three cubes tilted and were blown as one–9, which agrees with NIST’s own time estimate.The charges were shaped to explode upward so that the bombs in the top of the building would not destroy the bombs below before they had a chance to explode. Mini-nukes exploding upward also serves to explain the low seismic readings of 2.1 for the South Tower and 2.3 for the North Tower.

Some may question whether mini-nukes can be configured to explode directionally. Shape charging explosives has been around for a long time. Friedwardt Winterberg of Cornell University has proposed using deuterium microbombs to transport payloads between planetary orbits. This amounts to exploding mini-nukes in a cylindrical tube to direct the blast to propel the spacecraft. This explains what is observed in the destruction of the Twin Towers: material is being ejected upward and outward, 1/3 of the buildings are completely vaporized, and steel, cement and gypsum are converted into a pyroclastic surge cloud that covers Lower Manhattan in fine dust. Retained heat from the underground mini-nukes produce the high temperatures that persisted for six months after 9/11. Conventional explosives were used as well in the Twin Towers but mini-nukes did the heavy lifting.

In the case of Building 6 mini-nukes were detonated in the basement of the building and configured to explode upward. This explains the scooped out crater in the center of the building and the tritiated water found in the basement 11 days after 9/11.

Building 7 was also a combination of conventional and nuclear demo charges. Unlike the Twin Towers, no above ground nukes were used on 7. Conventional charges took out the support columns of the building which caused it to fall at free fall speed in a vacuum and three mini-nukes detonated in the basement vaporized much of the contents of the building. This explains the low seismic reading of .6. We will have a full break down on Building 7 in a future article.

What Would 150 Kiloton Blasts Have Done?

As a comparison to Khalezov’s theory let’s use the Storax Sedan nuclear test which was a 104 kt nuke detonated 190 meters deep. It lifted a dome of earth 90 m (300 ft.) above the desert floor before it vented at three seconds after detonation, exploding upward and outward displacing more than 11,000,000 tons of soil.

The resulting crater is 100 m (330 ft.) deep with a diameter of about 390 m (1,280 ft.). A circular area of the desert floor five miles across was obscured by fast-expanding dust clouds moving out horizontally from the base surge, akin to pyroclastic surge. The blast caused seismic waves equivalent to an earthquake of 4.75 on the Richter scale.

There were no giant craters observed at Ground Zero in New York so on this point alone Khalezov’s theory can be rejected.

The Winter Garden: Where DEWS, Nanothermite and Big-Nuke Theories Go To Die

The Twin Towers were destroyed from the top down and the inside out. No big flash was visible and no other buildings were flattened by the blasts so by definition any above ground nuclear detonation had to be low yield. Photos and videos of the destruction of the Twin Towers clearly show that there were indeed above ground nuclear detonations. As we can see below the chunks of debris that are being ejected from the North Tower into the Winter Garden originated several stories above the top of Building 7. Other material is being ejected straight up; the North Tower is clearly being demolished by an above ground mini-nuke. The bottom 60 floors of the North Tower are clearly still intact when the material that landed in the Winter Garden was ejected. Khalezov’s account of large underground nukes simply cannot account for the observed top down demolition of the North Tower.

The Winter Garden was destroyed on 9/11 from debris ejected from the North Tower. Judy Wood denies that explosives were used to demolish the Towers and that through some unknown process they simply turned to dust where they once stood. This is patently absurd. The Twin Towers exploded and Wood cannot account for a 300 ton chunk of debris being ejected into the Winter Garden 600+ feet out. It was traveling at an estimated 70+ miles per hour. Judy Wood’s DEW non-theory has no explanatory power for the destruction of the WTC buildings and can be rejected.

Since nanothermite is not explosive it cannot account for the destruction of the Winter Garden. Nanothermite has no ability to explode concrete or steel or eject steel assemblies weighing hundreds of tons up at a 45° angle and out into the Winter Garden. The nanothermite theory can also be rejected.

The Winter Garden is the end of the line for any theory except the mini-nuke theory.

Six World Trade: The Mini-Nuke Poster Child

Six World Trade Center was the US Custom House, an 8 story building that stood between the North Tower and Building 7. The new One World Trade Center stands on the site where Six World Trade once stood. Khalezov’s theory does not even take Building 6 into account even though the building was clearly nuked. Before either Tower came down on 9/11 a 170 high meter plume of smoke was seen rising from the building:

The blast left a giant crater in the middle of the building:

Tritium was found at levels 55 times background in the basement of the building 11 days after 9/11. Firefighters sprayed a million liters of water on Building 6 diluting the water samples. Per Ed Ward’s breakdown had the water samples been collected on the evening of 9/11 there could have potentially been 6 BILLION tritium units present. That is the equivalent to a leaking nuclear power plant. Temperatures were so high that “cement flowed like lava” according to the plaque in the New York Police Museum:

EXIT signs, gun sights and cold fusion cannot explain the tritium found in the basement of Building 6. The only thing that can explain this evidence is a thermonuclear explosion. It is apparent that one or more mini-nukes were detonated in Building 6. A 150 kiloton nuke buried under another building cannot account for the damage inflicted upon Six World Trade. Neither can thermite, cold fusion or a Judy Wood style DEW.

Khalezov’s Big-Nuke Theory falls short in several areas: It cannot account for evidence of above ground nuclear detonations, low seismic readings of the destruction of WTC-1, 2 and 7, the lack of giant craters at Ground Zero, the destruction of WTC-6 and the 1,400 toasted cars. The WTC Mini-Nuke Theory can account for all of these things without resorting to claiming seismic reports and photographs were faked or that the police and FBI were burning their own cars. Khalezov is correct that the destruction of the WTC buildings was a nuclear event. He is much closer to the mark than are the thermite sniffers and DEW cultists.

The time has come to reject all of the Myths surrounding 9/11 and come to grips with what really happened: the Zionist / Neocon Cabal nuked buildings in Lower Manhattan to justify Zionist Wars of Aggression in the Middle East. The Killing Machine will keep going with wars in Syria and Iran if we are unable to reject the lies and myths and face up to the truth of 9/11.

Never forget: A man looks at one of the 2,753 Flags of Honor assembled in Battery Park commemorating those who died at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001

Cross state pilgrimage: A group of Mennonite women from Pennsylvania walk outside the ground zero site in New York, on Saturday

Children and guns: A heavily-armed group of Port Authority police officers and soldier share a light moment with children visiting from France at commuter train station near ground zero Saturday

Hand in hand: President Obama and first lady Michelle walk heads bowed through Arlington National Cemetery in Washington on Saturday

Sombre sign: The Pentagon Memorial at Arlington, Virginia commemorates the 184 people who died in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, consists of individually inscribed benches for each of the victims of the attack

Small but fitting: Fence at the Flight 93 National Memorial site's temporary memorial that overlooks the field where the flight crashed in Shanksville Pennsylvania on 9/11, 2001

Remembrance: Flags for the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on World Trade Center at New York City's Battery Park line the ground as beams of light stretch in the background from the footprints of the Twin Towers

Standing tall: One World Trade Center and the September 11 Memorial are ablaze in lights on Friday

Pushing on: A team has been working around the clock, and under heavy rain, to make sure the Tribute in Light is ready for Sunday

Yesterday in midtown Manhattan, 2,753 empty chairs, representing the lives lost on 9/11, were set to face south toward the World Trade on Bryant Park's lawn for part of a project called Ten Years Later, A Tribute 9/11..

Meanwhile, actors and performers from the Broadway community gathered at Times Square in costume for Broadway Unites: 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance ceremony.

This morning at precisely 8:46am, thousands will gather to grasp hands and form a human chain to commemorate 9/11 at the tip of the Lower Manhattan waterfront heading north.

Organisers at Manhattan Community Board 1 said the event is open for those who feel excluded from the official 9/11 Memorial ceremony on Sunday, which is only open to families of the victims.

The world will undoubtedly cast its eyes on the World Trade Centre memorial site on Sunday morning, when New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will join President Barack Obama and former President George W Bush for the reading of the names of the nearly 2,753 victims killed in New York, Washington, DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Mr Obama added in his address: 'We're doing everything in our power to protect our people,' he said. 'And no matter what comes our way, as a resilient nation, we will carry on.'

He sought to strike a balance between remembering and moving forward, while also trying to summon the feeling of unity that existed during those dark days after terrorists killed nearly 3,000 Americans.

'They wanted to deprive us of the unity that defines us as a people. But we will not succumb to division or suspicion. We are Americans, and we are stronger and safer when we stay true to the values, freedoms and diversity that make us unique among nations.'

Obama also thanked American troops who have served in two long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

United: Actors and performers from the Broadway community perform at the Broadway Unites: 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance ceremony at Times Square on Friday

Tribute: Two memorial pools now sit where the World Trade Center towers used to stand

Patriotic: A U.S. flag is seen through the mesh surrounding the perimeter at the World Trade Center construction site in New York on Friday evening

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum memorial service will see family gather from 6:30am to 4pm.A moment of silence will be held at 8:46 a.m., when the first plane crashed into the North Tower, and then the names of the victims will be read.

The annual 'Tribute in Light' will begin from the WTC site at sundown, visible for more than 60 miles. Two blue beams, made up of 7,000 watt bulbs, were switched on for the first time this year on Tuesday night.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led New York in the days after the attacks, struck some of the same themes in the Republican Party's weekly radio and Internet address. He said the terrorists achieved their goal of killing Americans — but failed to destroy the American spirit. 'The country was not broken, but rather, it was more united in the days after Sept. 11 than at any time in my lifetime. We displayed heroic spirit in many ways, but perhaps the most heroic was the unity of spirit that we shared as Americans.

'The American people demonstrated one of the most basic values that we share — our love of freedom and the value we place on individual human life.'

Elsewhere, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will display the 9/11 Peace Story Quilt with an accompanying program on Sunday from 1-4:30pm. Graduate students from New York University will read poetry from the quilt and a free concert will be performed. Created in collaboration with New York City students age 8 to 19, the quilt was made to convey the importance of communication among cultures and religions to achieve peace.

The New-York Historical Society will showcase a selection of photos taken during the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center. The Remembering 9/11 photo exhibition will be on view on Sunday through April 12.

Memorial: A woman ties a 'Ribbon of Remembrance' along St Paul's Chapel fence to remember victims from the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, near the WTC site

In honour: 2,753 empty chairs - representing the lives lost on 9/11, face south toward the World Trade on Bryant Park's lawn for part of a project called 'Ten Years Later, A Tribute 9/11'

Later in the day, the church will hold a free concert given by the Young Peoples Chorus of New York, the New York Choral Society, and Cathedral Choir of St Patrick at the city's famed St Patrick's Cathedral from 7-8:30pm.

Sunday will also mark the opening of The National September 11 Memorial and Museum, designed by the winning team of Michael Arad and Peter Walker. The memorial is set in the footprints of the original twin towers among a small forest of oak trees in an eight-acre plaza.

It features two 50ft-deep pools, each containing fountains, along with a museum with exhibitions and artefacts to teach visitors about the events of September 11. The pools have the victims' names etched around its perimeter.

9/11 is not a story of 19 hijackers who miraculously managed to outsmart the world superpower with all its military might and the vigilance of its intelligence.

9/11 is not a story of hitting the heart of America while she was off guard, rather it is a story of yet another world scam wrapped up in lies and deception and sold to the huddled masses as the ultimate truth.

The official 9/11 narrative is a myth that is ready to go down in history as the unquestionable fact.

9/11 is the story of the world political vacuum that has been playing out since the fall of communism and the end of the cold war era, it is the story of the western capitalism that has run wild and become almost unrestrained with bankers and corporate media controlling the political debate, until it has recently fallen in the hands of the extreme right wingers and ardent Zionists.

Bin Laden betrayed by his own God

Bin laden's cave in Tora Bora or his unassailable headquarters and fortress as described by post-911 MSM.

9/11 is not about Osama bin Laden, the genius who allegedly preplanned, financed and steered this solo masterpiece from some cave in Afghanistan while he was purifying for his prayers during which he earnestly implored his god to assist him and his followers of mujahedeen in their perilous undertaking.

What Bin Laden didn’t know is that his god was not listening in the first place and that the near to perfection collapse of the towers ought to be credited to other gods that somehow managed to tap into his hideous plan and decided to give it some high-tech assistance and ultra-modern panache.

While Bin Laden and his 19 Muslim morons, equipped with knives and box cutters, were featured in this world premiere as the protagonists of the 9/11 deadly operation, the real and dreadful thing was being remotely controlled by other gods of war to whom Osama bin laden was nothing more than a pawn to be moved at will and eventually sacrificed at the right time and in the right place.

Article Summary: When you look closely, nothing seems right about what will surely become the accepted account of the raid that nailed America’s enemy number one. And then things get even weirder…

The father of the New Yorker writer who got the exclusive inside story of the bin Laden raid

he establishment media just keep getting worse. They’re further and further from good, tough investigative journalism, and more prone to be pawns in complicated games that affect the public interest in untold ways. A significant recent example is The New Yorker’s vaunted August 8 exclusive on the vanquishing of Osama bin Laden.

The piece, trumpeted as the most detailed account to date of the May 1 raid in Abbottabad Pakistan, was an instant hit. “Got the chills half dozen times reading @NewYorker killing bin Laden tick tock…exquisite journalism,” tweeted the digital director of the PBS show Frontline. The author, freelancer Nicholas Schmidle, was quickly featured on the Charlie Rose show, an influential determiner of “chattering class” opinion. Other news outlets rushed to praise the story as “exhaustive,” “utterly compelling,” and on and on.

To be sure, it is the kind of granular, heroic story that the public loves, that generates follow-up bestsellers and movie options. The takedown even has a Hollywood-esque code name: “Operation Neptune’s Spear”

Here’s the introduction to the mission commander, full of minute details that help give it a ring of authenticity and suggest the most intimate reportorial access:

James, a broad-chested man in his late thirties, does not have the lithe swimmer’s frame that one might expect of a SEAL—he is built more like a discus thrower. That night, he wore a shirt and trousers in Desert Digital Camouflage, and carried a silenced Sig Sauer P226 pistol, along with extra ammunition; a CamelBak, for hydration; and gel shots, for endurance. He held a short-barrel, silenced M4 rifle. (Others SEALs had chosen the Heckler & Koch MP7.) A “blowout kit,” for treating field trauma, was tucked into the small of James’s back. Stuffed into one of his pockets was a laminated gridded map of the compound. In another pocket was a booklet with photographs and physical descriptions of the people suspected of being inside. He wore a noise-cancelling headset, which blocked out nearly everything besides his heartbeat.

On and on went the “tick-tock.” Yet as Paul Farhi, a Washington Post reporter, noted, that narrative was misleading in the extreme, because the New Yorker reporter never actually spoke to James—nor to a single one of James’s fellow SEALs (who have never been identified or photographed–even from behind–to protect their identity.) Instead, every word of Schmidle’s narrative was provided to him by people who were not present at the raid. Complains Farhi:

…a casual reader of the article wouldn’t know that; neither the article nor an editor’s note describes the sourcing for parts of the story. Schmidle, in fact, piles up so many details about some of the men, such as their thoughts at various times, that the article leaves a strong impression that he spoke with them directly.

That didn’t trouble New Yorker editor David Remnick, according to Farhi:

Remnick says he’s satisfied with the accuracy of the account. “The sources spoke to our fact-checkers,” he said. “I know who they are.”

But we don’t.

On a story of this gravity, should we automatically join in with the huzzahs because it has the imprimatur of America’s most respected magazine? Or would we be wise to approach it with caution?

***

Most of us are not the trusting naïfs we once were. And with good reason.

The list of consequential events packaged for us by media and Hollywood in unsatisfactory ways continues to grow. It starts, certainly, with the official version of the JFK assassination, widely discredited yet still carried forward by most major media organizations. (For more on that, see this.) More and more people realize that the heroic Woodward & Bernstein story of Nixon’s demise is deeply problematical. (I’ve written extensively on both of these in my book Family of Secrets.)

And untold millions don’t think we’ve heard the real (or at least complete) story of the phenomenal, complex success of those 19 hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001. Skeptics now include former White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke, who recently speculated that the hijackers may have been able to enter the US and move freely precisely because American intelligence hoped to recruit them as double agents—and that an ongoing cover-up is designed to hide this. And then, of course, there are the Pentagon’s account of the heroic rescue of Jessica Lynch in Iraq, which turned out to be a hoax, and the Pentagon’s fabricated account of the heroic battle death of former NFL player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, who turned out to be a victim of friendly fire. These are just a few from scores of examples of deceit perpetrated upon the American people. Hardly the kind of track record to inspire confidence in official explanations with the imprimatur of the military and the CIA.

Whatever one thinks of these other matters, we’re certainly now at a point where we ought to be prudent in embracing authorized accounts of the latest seismic event: the dramatic end to one of America’s most reviled and storied nemeses.

The bin Laden raid presents us with every reason to be cautious. The government’s initial claims about what transpired at that house in Abbottabad have changed, then changed again, with no proper explanation of the discrepancies. Even making allowances for human error in such shifting accounts, almost every aspect of what we were told requires a willing suspension of disbelief—from the manner of Osama’s death and burial to the purported pornography found at the site. (For more on these issues, see previous articles we wrote on the subject, here, here and here.)

Clarke’s theory will seem less outrageous later, as we explore Saudi intelligence’s crucial, and bizarre, role at the end of bin Laden’s life—working directly with the man who now holds Clarke’s job.

Add to all of this the discovery that the reporter providing this newest account wasn’t even allowed to talk to any raid participants—and the magazine’s lack of candor on this point—and you’ve got an almost unassailable case for treating the New Yorker story with extreme caution.

We might begin by asking the question: Who provided The New Yorker with its exclusive, and what was their agenda in doing so? To try and sort out Schmidle’s sources, I read through the piece carefully several times.

One person who spoke to the reporter, and who is identified by name is John O. Brennan, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser. Brennan is quoted directly, briefly, near the top, describing to Schmidle pre-raid debate over whether such an operation would be a success or failure:

John Brennan, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, told me that the President’s advisers began an “interrogation of the data, to see if, by that interrogation, you’re going to disprove the theory that bin Laden was there.”

The mere fact of Schmidle’s reliance on Brennan at all should send up a flare for the cautious reader. After all, that’s the very same Brennan who was the principal source of incorrect details in the hours and days after the raid. These included the claim that the SEALs encountered substantial armed resistance, not least from bin Laden himself; that it took them an astounding 40 minutes to get to bin Laden, and that the White House got to hear the soldiers’ conversations in real time.

Here’s a Washington Post account from Brennan published on May 3, less than 48 hours after the raid:

Half an hour had passed on the ground, but the American commandos raiding Osama bin Laden’s Pakistani hideaway had yet to find their long-sought target.

…The commandos swept methodically through the compound’s main building, clearing one room and then another as they made their way to the upper floors where they expected to find bin Laden. As they did so, Obama administration officials in the White House Situation Room listened to the SEAL team’s conversations over secure lines.

“The minutes passed like days,” said John O. Brennan, the administration’s chief counterterrorism adviser. “It was probably one of the most anxiety-filled periods of time, I think, in the lives of the people who were assembled.”

Finally, shortly before 2 a.m. in Pakistan, the commandos burst into an upstairs room.Inside, an armed bin Laden took cover behind a woman, Brennan said. With a burst of gunfire, one of the longest and costliest manhunts in modern history was over.

.. The commandos moved inside, and finally reached bin Laden’s upstairs living quarters after nearly 40 minutes on the ground.

Almost all that turns out to be hogwash—according to the new account produced by The New Yorker three months later. An account that, again, it seems, comes courtesy of Brennan. The minutes did not pass like days. Bin Laden was not armed, and did not take cover behind a woman. And the commandoes most certainly were not on the ground for 40 minutes. Some of them were up the stairs to the higher floors almost in a flash, and it didn’t take long for them to run into and kill bin Laden.

For another take, consider this account from NBC News’ Pentagon correspondent—also reported the week after the raid— two days after Brennan told the Washington Post a completely different story. This one appears to be based on a briefing from military officials who would have been likely to have good knowledge of the operational details:

According to the officials’ account, as the first SEAL team moved into the compound, they took small-arms fire from the guest house in the compound. The SEALs returned fire, killing bin Laden’s courier and the courier’s wife, who died in the crossfire. It was the only time the SEALs were shot at.

The second SEAL team entered the first floor of the main residence and could see a man standing in the dark with one hand behind his back. Fearing he was hiding a weapon, the SEALs shot and killed the lone man, who turned out to be unarmed.

As the U.S. commandos moved through the house, they found several stashes of weapons and barricades, as if the residents were prepared for a violent and lengthy standoff — which never materialized.

The SEALs then made their way up a staircase, where they ran into one of bin Laden’s sons. The Americans immediately shot and killed the 19-year-old son, who was also unarmed, according to the officials.

Hearing the shots, bin Laden peered over the railing from the floor above. The SEALs fired but missed bin Laden, who ducked back into his bedroom. As the SEALs stormed up the stairs, two young girls ran from the room.

One SEAL scooped them up and carried them out of harm’s way. The other two commandos stormed into bin Laden’s bedroom. One of bin Laden’s wives rushed toward the Navy SEAL, who shot her in the leg.

Then, without hesitation, the same commando turned his gun on bin Laden, standing in what appeared to be pajamas, and fired two quick shots, one to the chest and one to the head. Although there were weapons in that bedroom, bin Laden was also unarmed when he was shot.

Instead of a chaotic firefight, the U.S. officials said, the American commando assault was a precision operation, with SEALs moving carefully through the compound, room to room, floor to floor.

In fact, most of the operation was spent in what the military calls “exploiting the site,” gathering up the computers, hard drives, cellphones and files that could provide valuable intelligence on al-Qaida operatives and potential operations worldwide.

The U.S. officials describing the operation said the SEALs carefully gathered up 22 women and children to ensure they were not harmed. Some of the women were put in “flexi-cuffs” the plastic straps used to bind someone’s hands at the wrists, and left them for Pakistani security forces to discover.

***

Given that Brennan’s initial version of the raid was strikingly erroneous, his later account to The New Yorker is suspect as well. So who else besides Brennan might have been Schmidle’s sources? At one point in his piece, he cites an unnamed counterterrorism official:

A senior counterterrorism official who visited the JSOC redoubt described it as an enclave of unusual secrecy and discretion. “Everything they were working on was closely held,” the official said.

Later, that same unnamed counterterrorism official is again cited, this time seeming to continue Brennan’s narrative of the meeting before the raid, in which participants disagreed on the likely success of such a mission:

That day in Washington, Panetta convened more than a dozen senior C.I.A. officials and analysts for a final preparatory meeting. Panetta asked the participants, one by one, to declare how confident they were that bin Laden was inside the Abbottabad compound. The counterterrorism official told me that the percentages “ranged from forty per cent to ninety or ninety-five per cent,” and added, “This was a circumstantial case.”

From the story’s construction, one could reasonably conclude that the unnamed counterterrorism official is indeed still just Brennan. If not, who could it be? How many different white House counterterrorism officials would have debriefed the SEALs, if indeed that is even their role? How many would have been privy to that planning meeting? And how many different officials would have gotten authorization to sum up the events of that important day for this New Yorker writer? Also, it’s an old journalistic trick to quote the same source, on and off the record— thereby giving the source extra cover when discussing particularly delicate matters.

So, we don’t know whether the article was based on anything more than Brennan, under marching orders to clean up the conflicting accounts he originally put out.

UNEXPLAINED DISPUTES

It’s curious that the source chooses to emphasize the fundamental disagreement over whether the raid was a good idea. Presumably, there was a purpose in emphasizing this, but the New Yorker’s “tick-tock”, which is very light on analysis or context, doesn’t tell us what it was. It may have been intended to show Obama as brave, inclined toward big risks (thereby running counter to his reputation)—we can only guess.

This internal discord will get the attention of anyone who remembers all the assertions from intelligence officials over the years that bin Laden was almost certainly already dead—either of natural causes or killed at some previous time.

Here’s a bit more from The New Yorker on officials’ doubts going into the raid:

Several analysts from the National Counterterrorism Center were invited to critique the C.I.A.’s analysis; their confidence in the intelligence ranged between forty and sixty per cent. The center’s director, Michael Leiter, said that it would be preferable to wait for stronger confirmation of bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad.

Those doubts are particularly interesting for several reasons: the CIA has had a long history of disputes between its covert action wing, which tends to advocate activity, and its analysis section, historically prone to caution. The action wing also has a history of publicizing its being right—when it could purport to be right—and covering up its failures. So when an insider chooses to make public these disagreements, we should be willing to consider motives.

This dispute can also be seen as an intriguing prologue to the rush to dump Bin Laden’s body and not provide proof to the public that it was indeed bin Laden. What if it wasn’t bin Laden that they killed? Would the government announce that after such a high-stakes operation? (“While we thought he’d be there, we accidentally killed someone else instead”? Seems unlikely.)

***

Now, let us go to the next antechamber of this warren of shadowy entities and unstated agendas.

Who exactly wanted bin Laden shot rather than taken alive and interrogated—and why? There’s been much discussion about the purported reasons for terminating him on sight, but the fact remains that he would have been a source of tremendous intelligence of real value to the safety of Americans and others.

Yet, early in the piece, Schmidle writes:

If all went according to plan, the SEALs would drop from the helicopters into the compound, overpower bin Laden’s guards, shoot and kill him at close range, and then take the corpse back to Afghanistan.

That was the plan? Whose plan? We’ve never been explicitly told by the White House that such a decision had been made. In fact, we’d previously been informed that the president was glad to have the master plotter taken alive if he was unarmed and did not resist. So, that’s a huge and problematical discrepancy that is only heightened by Schmidle’s misleadingly matter-of-fact treatment of the matter.

GET ME RIYADH

If the justification for killing Osama presented in The New Yorker warrants concern, the account of how—and why—they disposed of his body ought to send alarm bells clanging.

At the time of the raid, the decision to hastily dump Osama’s body in the ocean rather than make it available for authoritative forensic examination was a highly controversial one—that only led to more speculation that the White House was hiding something. The justifications, including not wanting to bury him on land for fear of creating a shrine, were almost laughable.

So what do we learn about this from The New Yorker? It’s truly bizarre: the SEALS themselves made the decision. That’s strange enough. But then we learn that Brennan took it upon himself to verify that was the right decision. How did he do this? Not by speaking with the president or top military, diplomatic or legal brass. No, he called some foreigners—get ready–the Saudis, who told him that dumping at sea sounded like a good plan.

Here’s Schmidle’s account:

All along, the SEALs had planned to dump bin Laden’s corpse into the sea—a blunt way of ending the bin Laden myth. They had successfully pulled off a similar scheme before. During a DEVGRU helicopter raid inside Somalia in September, 2009, SEALs had killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, one of East Africa’s top Al Qaeda leaders; Nabhan’s corpse was then flown to a ship in the Indian Ocean, given proper Muslim rites, and thrown overboard. Before taking that step for bin Laden, however, John Brennan made a call. Brennan, who had been a C.I.A. station chief in Riyadh, phoned a former counterpart in Saudi intelligence. Brennan told the man what had occurred in Abbottabad and informed him of the plan to deposit bin Laden’s remains at sea. As Brennan knew, bin Laden’s relatives were still a prominent family in the Kingdom, and Osama had once been a Saudi citizen. Did the Saudi government have any interest in taking the body? “Your plan sounds like a good one,” the Saudi replied.

Let’s consider this. The most wanted man in the world; substantive professional doubts about whether the man in the Abbottabad house is him; tremendous public doubts about whether it could even be him; the most important operation of the Obama presidency; yet the decision about what to do with the body is left to low-level operatives. Keep in mind SEALs are trained to follow orders given by others. They’re expected to apply what they know to unexpected scenarios that come up, but the key strategic decisions— arrived at in advance—are not theirs to make.

Even more strange that Brennan would discuss this with a foreign power. And not just any foreign power, but the regime that is inextricably linked with the domestically-influential family of bin Laden—and home to many of the hijackers who worked for him.

Is it just me, or does this sound preposterous? Obama’s Homeland Security and Counterterrorism adviser is just winging it with key aspects of one of America’s most important, complex and risky operations? And the Saudi government is the one deciding to discard the remains of a man from one of Saudi Arabia’s most powerful families, before the public could receive proper proof of the identity of the body? A regime with a great deal at stake and perhaps plenty to hide.

Also please consider this important caveat: As we noted in a previous article, the claim that the body had already been positively identified via DNA has been disputed by a DNA expert who said that insufficient time had elapsed before the sea burial to complete such tests.

The line about Brennan himself having been a former CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia is just sort of dropped in there. No recognition of what it means that a person of that background was put into that position after 9/11, no recognition that a person of that background and those fraught personal connections is controlling this narrative. He’s not just a “counterterrorism expert”—he is a longtime member of an agency whose mandate includes the frequent use of disinformation. And one who has his own historic direct links to the Saudi regime, a key and problematical player in the larger chess game playing out.

It’s relevant to note that Brennan is not only a career CIA officer (they say no one ever really leaves the Agency, no matter their new title) but one with a lot of baggage. He was deputy director of the CIA at the time of the 9/11 attacks. He was an adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign, after which Obama initially planned to name him CIA director. That appointment was pulled, in part due to criticism from human rights advocates over statements he had made in support of sending terrorism suspects to countries where they might be tortured.

Of course, there could have been other sources besides Brennan. In addition to the unnamed “counterterrorism official” previously cited, the New Yorker mentions a “special operations officer,” as in:

…according to a special-operations officer who is deeply familiar with the bin Laden raid.

Subsequent quotes from him indicate that this had to be a supervisory special ops officer. His comments are surprising:

“This wasn’t a hard op,” the special-operations officer told me. “It would be like hitting a target in McLean”—the upscale Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C.

Whoops! Here’s a Special Ops guy saying the Special Ops raid was actually no big deal! Shouldn’t that, if a valid assessment, get more attention? Especially given the endless praise and frequent statements of how difficult the operation was. I mean, the toughness and diciness of the Abbottabad mission is the prime reason we want to read the New Yorker’s account in the first place!

To further underline the point, consider that this fellow is not alone in his assessment:

In the months after the raid, the media have frequently suggested that the Abbottabad operation was as challenging as Operation Eagle Claw and the “Black Hawk Down” incident, but the senior Defense Department official told me that “this was not one of three missions.”…. He likened the routine of evening raids to “mowing the lawn.”

Why would a person overseeing an operation like this deflate the bubble of adoration? It doesn’t seem helpful to the interests of Special Operations – and it doesn’t seem credible, either. So there’s presumably a reason that this person is—again speaking to The New Yorker after this important exclusive has been carefully considered and strategized. We just don’t know what it is, and the magazine doesn’t even bother to wonder.

***

Most of the other sources seem to play bit roles. One is “a senior adviser to the President” whose only comment is that Obama decided not to trust the Pakistanis with advance notice of the raid—which we already knew. Another— named—source is Ben Rhodes, a deputy national-security adviser, who does not evince any intimate knowledge of the raid itself.

The New Yorker also includes a few other officials who brief Schmidle on general background, like a “senior defense department official” explaining the overall relationship between Special Operations and CIA personnel, and a named former CIA counsel explaining that the Abottabad raid amounted to “a complete incorporation of JSOC [Joint Special Operations Command] into a C.I.A. operation.”

That’s only slipped into the article, but it is perhaps one of the most important aspects of the piece, along with a brief mention of the way in which former Iraq/Afghan commander General David Petraeus has gone to CIA while CIA director Panetta has been made Defense Secretary. (For more on these important but confusing games of high-level musical chairs, which were not deeply scrutinized in the conventional media, see our WhoWhatWhy pieces here and here.)

This may sound too technical for your taste, but the takeaway point is that fundamental realignments are afoot in that vast, massively-funded, powerful and secretive part of the US government that is treated by the corporate press almost as if it does not exist. The tales of internal intrigue that we do not hear would begin to provide us with the real narratives that are not ours to have.

In the New Yorker piece, we do learn lots of things we did not know before—for example, that Special Ops considered tunneling in or coming in by foot rather than helicopter. We learn that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wanted to drop massive bombs on the house. General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shared that view—Cartwright is one of the few who is directly identified as a source for Schmidle. That’s important stuff, and worth more than brief mention. And, once again, we need more effort to try and understand why we are being told these things.

“WE REALLY DIDN’T KNOW…WHAT WAS GOING ON”

About two-thirds of the article is a sort of scene-setter, a prologue to on-the-ground story we’ve all been waiting for. But when the big moment arrives, The New Yorker’s Schmidle instead punts:

Meanwhile, James, the squadron commander, had breached one wall, crossed a section of the yard covered with trellises, breached a second wall, and joined up with the SEALs from helo one, who were entering the ground floor of the house. What happened next is not precisely clear. “I can tell you that there was a time period of almost twenty to twenty-five minutes where we really didn’t know just exactly what was going on,” Panetta said later, on “PBS NewsHour.”

Until this moment, the operation had been monitored by dozens of defense, intelligence, and Administration officials watching the drone’s video feed. The SEALs were not wearing helmet cams, contrary to a widely cited report by CBS. None of them had any previous knowledge of the house’s floor plan, and they were further jostled by the awareness that they were possibly minutes away from ending the costliest manhunt in American history; as a result, some of their recollections—on which this account is based—may be imprecise and, thus, subject to dispute.

Schmidle claims that the SEALs’ “recollections—on which this account is based”—are subject to dispute. But as I’ve noted, the article is NOT based on their recollections, but on what some source claims to Schmidle were their recollections. Why the summary may be imprecise and thus subject to dispute after it has been filtered by a person controlling the scenario, must be asked. Perhaps this is why TheNew Yorker is not permitted to speak directly to the SEALs—because of what they could tell the magazine.

Now, killing the men who lived in the compound: First, the SEALs shot and killed the courier, who they say was armed, and his wife, who they say was not, when they emerged from the guesthouse. Then they killed the courier’s brother inside the main house, who they say was armed. Then they moved up the stairs:

..three SEALs marched up the stairs. Midway up, they saw bin Laden’s twenty-three-year-old son, Khalid, craning his neck around the corner. He then appeared at the top of the staircase with an AK-47. Khalid, who wore a white T-shirt with an overstretched neckline and had short hair and a clipped beard, fired down at the Americans. (The counterterrorism official claims that Khalid was unarmed, though still a threat worth taking seriously. “You have an adult male, late at night, in the dark, coming down the stairs at you in an Al Qaeda house—your assumption is that you’re encountering a hostile.”) At least two of the SEALs shot back and killed Khalid.

Ok, that’s pretty strange. First, Schmidle asserts that Khalid bin Laden was armed and fired with an AK-47. Then he quotes this counterterrorism official—who could in fact be Brennan—saying that Khalid was unarmed. Why does the New Yorker first run the “Khalid was armed” claim as a fact, and then include the official disclaimer? What’s really going on here, even from the New Yorker’s editorial standpoint?

Here’s another such instance: a dispute over where Osama was when they first saw him:

Three SEALs shuttled past Khalid’s body and blew open another metal cage, which obstructed the staircase leading to the third floor. Bounding up the unlit stairs, they scanned the railed landing. On the top stair, the lead SEAL swivelled right; with his night-vision goggles, he discerned that a tall, rangy man with a fist-length beard was peeking out from behind a bedroom door, ten feet away. The SEAL instantly sensed that it was Crankshaft [codename for Osama]. (The counterterrorism official asserts that the SEAL first saw bin Laden on the landing, and fired but missed.)

What’s the purpose of all this? How good is intelligence work when they can’t reconstruct whether the singular focus of the operation was first spotted peeking out from a doorway, or standing on the landing above them?

And then one of the most interesting passages, about the kill:

A second SEAL stepped into the room and trained the infrared laser of his M4 on bin Laden’s chest. The Al Qaeda chief, who was wearing a tan shalwar kameez and a prayer cap on his head, froze; he was unarmed. “There was never any question of detaining or capturing him—it wasn’t a split-second decision. No one wanted detainees,” the special-operations officer told me. (The Administration maintains that had bin Laden immediately surrendered he could have been taken alive.)

Uh-oh. So who is this Special Operations officer? He is directly disputing the administration’s claim on what surely matters greatly—what were President Obama’s intentions here? And did they always plan to just ignore them? That The New Yorker just drops this in with no further analysis or context is, simply put, shocking.

It seems almost as if Panetta, Obama, and the people in the story who most closely approximate actual representatives of the public in a functioning democracy, were basically cut off from observing what went down that day—or from influencing what transpired.

Consider this statement from Panetta, not included in the New Yorker piece:

“Once those teams went into the compound I can tell you that there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes where we really didn’t know just exactly what was going on. And there were some very tense moments as we were waiting for information.

“We had some observation of the approach there, but we did not have direct flow of information as to the actual conduct of the operation itself as they were going through the compound.”

Panetta’s “lost 25 minutes” needs to be seen in the context of a man with civilian roots, notwithstanding two mid-60s years as a Lt. in military intel: Former Congressman, Clinton White House budget chief and Chief of Staff, credentials with civil rights and environment movements—a fellow with real distance from the true spook/military mojo.

Taken together, here’s what we have: President Obama did not know exactly what was going on. He did not decide that bin Laden should be shot. And he did not decide to dump his body in the ocean. The CIA and its Special Ops allies made all the decisions.

Then Brennan, the CIA’s man, put out the version that CIA wanted. (Keep in mind that, as noted earlier, CIA was really running the operation—with Special Ops under its direction).

What we’re looking at, folks, is the reality of democracy in America: A permanent entrenched covert establishment that marches to its own drummer or to drummers unknown. It’s exactly the kind of thing that never gets reported. Too scary. Too real. Better to dismiss this line of inquiry as too “conspiracy theory.”

If that sounds like hyperbole, let me add this rather significant consideration. It is the background of Nicholas Schmidle, the freelancer who wrote the New Yorker piece. It may give us insight into how he landed this extraordinary exclusive on this extraordinarily sensitive matter—information again, significantly, not shared by The New Yorker with its readers:

Schmidle’s father is Marine Lt. General Robert E. “Rooster” Schmidle Jr. General Schmidle served as Commanding Officer of Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (Experimental)—that’s essentially Special Operations akin to Navy SEALs. In recent years, he was “assistant deputy commandant for Programs and Resources (Programs)”—where, among other things, he oversaw “irregular warfare.” (See various, including contract specs here on “Special Operations,” and picture caption here) In 2010, he moved into another piece of this, when Obama appointed him deputy commander, U.S. Cyber Command. Cumulatively, this makes the author’s father a very important man in precisely the sort of circles who care how the raid is publicly portrayed—and who would be quite intimate with some of the folks hunkering down with Obama in the Situation Room on the big day.

You can see a photo of Gen. Schmidle on a 2010 panel about “Warring Futures.” Event co-sponsors include Slate magazine and the New America Foundation, both of which, according to Nicholas Schmidle’s website, have also provided Schmidle’s son with an ongoing perch (with Slate giving him a platform for numerous articles from war zones and the foundation employing him as a Fellow.) These parallel relationships grow more disturbing with contemplation.

***

So let’s get back to the question, Who is driving this Ship of State?

First, consider this passage:

Obama returned to the White House at two o’clock, after playing nine holes of golf at Andrews Air Force Base. The Black Hawks departed from Jalalabad thirty minutes later. Just before four o’clock, Panetta announced to the group in the Situation Room that the helicopters were approaching Abbottabad.

To be really useful reporting here, rather than just meaningless “color”, we’d need some context. Was the golf game’s purpose to blow off steam at an especially tense time? Did Obama not think it important enough for him to be constantly present in the hours leading up to the raid? Is this typical of his schedule when huge things are happening? We desperately need a more realistic sense of what presidents do, how much they’re really in charge, or, instead, figureheads for unnamed individuals who make most of the critical decisions.

Here’s something just as strange: we are told the President took a commanding role in determining key operational tactics, but then didn’t seem interested in important details, after the fact.

Forty-five minutes after the Black Hawks departed, four MH-47 Chinooks launched from the same runway in Jalalabad. Two of them flew to the border, staying on the Afghan side; the other two proceeded into Pakistan. Deploying four Chinooks was a last-minute decision made after President Barack Obama said he wanted to feel assured that the Americans could “fight their way out of Pakistan.”

Now, consider the following climactic New Yorker account of Obama meeting with the squadron commander after it’s all over, with bin Laden dead and the troops home and safe. Schmidle decides to call the commander “James…the names of all the covert operators mentioned in this story have been changed.” The anecdote will feature a canine, one who, in true furry dog story fashion, had already been introduced early in the New Yorker piece, as “Cairo” (it’s not clear whether the dog’s name, too, was changed):

As James talked about the raid, he mentioned Cairo’s role. “There was a dog?” Obama interrupted. James nodded and said that Cairo was in an adjoining room, muzzled, at the request of the Secret Service.

“I want to meet that dog,” Obama said.

“If you want to meet the dog, Mr. President, I advise you to bring treats,” James joked. Obama went over to pet Cairo, but the dog’s muzzle was left on.

Here’s the ending:

Before the President returned to Washington, he posed for photographs with each team member and spoke with many of them, but he left one thing unsaid. He never asked who fired the kill shot, and the SEALs never volunteered to tell him.

Why did the president not want to ask for specifics on the most important parts of the operation—but seemed so interested in a dog that participated? While it is certainly plausible that this happened, we should be wary of one of the oldest p.r. tricks around—get people cooing over an animal, while the real action is elsewhere.

Certainly, Obama’s reaction differs dramatically from that of other previous presidents who always demanded detailed briefings and would have stayed on top of it all throughout—including fellow Democrats JFK, Carter and Clinton. At minimum, it shows a degree of caution or ceremony based upon a desire not to know too much—or an understanding that he may not ask. Does anyone doubt that Bill Clinton would have been on watch 24/7 during this operation, parsing legal, political and operational details throughout, and would have demanded to know who felled America’s most wanted?

Summing up about the reliability of this account, which is now likely to become required reading for every student in America, long into the future:

It is based on reporting by a man who fails to disclose that he never spoke to the people who conducted the raid, or that his father has a long background himself running such operations (this even suggests the possibility that Nicholas Schmidle’s own father could have been one of those “unnamed sources.”)

It seems to have depended heavily on trusting second-hand accounts by people with a poor track record for accurate summations, and an incentive to spin.

The alleged decisions on killing bin Laden and disposing of his body lack credibility.

The DNA evidence that the SEALs actually got their man is questionable.

Though certain members of Congress say they have seen photos of the body (or, to be precise, a body), the rest of us have not seen anything.

Promised photos of the ceremonial dumping of the body at sea have not materialized.

The eyewitnesses from the house—including the surviving wives—have disappeared without comment.

We weren’t allowed to hear from the raid participants. And on August 6, seventeen Navy SEALs died when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan. We’re told that fifteen of them came, amazingly, from the same SEAL Team 6 that carried out the Abbottabad raid—but that none of the dead were present for the raid. We do get to hear the stories of those men, and their names.

Of course, if any of those men had been in the Abbottabad raid—or knew anything about it of broad public interest, we’d be none the wiser—because, the only “reliable sources” still available (and featured by the New Yorker)are military and intelligence professionals, coming out of a long tradition of cover-ups and fabrications.

Meanwhile, we have this president, this one who according to the magazine article didn’t ask about the core issues—why this man was killed, who killed him, under whose orders, what would be done with the body.

Well, he may not want answers. But we ought to want them. Otherwise, it’s all just a game.

The noose is slowly closing around the monstrous lie of 9/11 as well as the unindicted co-conspirators but one name stands above them all and that person is not Osama Bin Laden. That person is Dick Cheney who refused for good reason to be questioned under oath by the 9/11 commission. Dick Cheney’s fingerprints are all over America’s greatest and most treasonous crime and cover up

The central problem with the 9/11 attack was that it was and still is referred to as a, never proven, terrorist attack and was never treated as a domestic criminal act ~ which growing evidence now corroborates.

The murderous crime of 9/11 would likely have been impossible without the assistance of high level power brokers, many connected to the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), but at the center of this carefully planned and treasonous false flag web of deceit was the shadow president, Dick Cheney ~ the one man with enough power and control to not only ensure its success but direct and implement its cover up.

Here are some of these high level power brokers listed and pictured on the “Who did it” web site. Here are also some excerpts and important questions, along with my notes, from that article;

What Is The Real 9/11 Conspiracy?

“ Here is a synopsis of what the best and brightest researchers around the world have gleaned over the past five-plus years from the best evidence available:

yes, 9-11 was a “terrorist” attack, but it was not perpetrated by “angry Arabs”, it was a State-sponsored “inside job”, a “false flag” operation planned, executed, and covered up by elements of the US Government and operatives from at least two other countries… it was the greatest act of psychological warfare ever perpetrated;

the alleged 19 Arab “hijackers” were “patsies”, several are still alive, several were under the care and feeding of US Government operatives and were being “trained” at CIA-operated flight schools;

FBI field agents who discovered the plot were told by their superiors not to investigate the “suspicious Arabs in flight schools”;

no interceptor jets were launched in a timely manner on 9-11 because of the five to seven overlapping war games ~ “games” simulating a simultaneous hijacking of several planes ~ that were taking place on 9-11;

the planes that hit the Twin Towers were most likely remotely controlled to their intended targets;

WTC 1 and 2 (the Twin Towers) and WTC 7 were all destroyed by preplanted charges ~ a combination of Thermate and high-powered explosives ~ in controlled demolitions;

the Pentagon was hit by a military drone painted to look like American Airlines flight 77, possibly in combination with a cruise missile;

the cell-phone calls allegedly made from the “hijacked” flights were not possible with the technology available on 9-11 from the altitude and speed at which the jets were traveling, these calls were faked to help sell the OCT ( Official Conspiracy Theory);

the fate of United flight 93 is still up for debate at this time, it seems to have been intended to hit Congress and was likely shot down by a “rogue” air force interceptor, but some reports claim it landed in Cleveland (one way or another, all passengers are dead).”

Dick Cheney was in charge of NORAD on 9/11 and ordered a stand down personally allowing an approaching drone/missile to proceed to Washington, DC and hit a designated portion of the Pentagon ~ destroying all records of the pentagon’s recently announced 2.3 trillion dollars of missing funds, which most likely included contracts with his former company Halliburton.

Incidentally, Cheney took control of NORAD three months before 9/11 and relinquished it three months after.

Watch TV host, Jesse Ventura, former Navy Seal, former Governor of Minnesota, in a 40 minute edited documentary on prime-time American television, make an open and shut criminal case tying Cheney, Rumsfeld and officials throughout the US government with complicity in the planning, execution and subsequent cover-up of the 9/11attack on the Pentagon. Video ~

Why Kill Your Own People?

“ This is the toughest part for the uninitiated to understand. The people who planned and executed the treasonous, heinous crimes of 9-11 are largely drawn from a handful of people known as NeoCons. Many of these are current or former members of PNAC (Project for the New American Century). Many are disciples of Leo Strauss, a German-born, fascistic, political philosopher who taught at the University of Chicago. Strauss thought that the average person was too stupid to decide what is in their best interest and that a ruling elite should govern all of humanity.

Taking a long-term perspective, 9-11 was conceived as a “stepping stone” to eventually enable the creation of a New World Order (NWO), the ultimate goal of the ruling elite ~ one global, fascistic, police state in perpetual war against an unseen enemy… terrorism.”

Note that Dick Cheney was the perfect spokesperson for this ideology which advocated any means to their end.

“ There were also several short-term objectives of 9-11: to push the USA Patriot Act through a compliant and complicit Congress; to declare war on Afghanistan and Iraq; to create a “siege mentality” in the USA and around the world; to eliminate the Constitution and in doing so eliminate Constitutional Rights and civil liberties; to dramatically increase military and “security” spending; to further divide the country; to rapidly militarize local police; to set the stage for the next “9-11”; and, ultimately, to prepare for martial law.”

Once again, the most vocal and authoritative practitioner of this NeoCon strategy is Dick Cheney. Here are the updated human and financial costs of Cheney’s NeoCon pipedream ~ not including the over 3000 murdered on 9/11.

Total U.S. dead Afghanistan/Iraq: 6,227 (Sept.

Total U.S. wounded Afghanistan/Iraq: 45,899 (Sept.

Additional U.S. non-combat injuries and illness: 56,462 (Aug. 1)

Iraq dead and wounded: Hundreds of Thousands

Afghanistan dead and wounded: Tens of Thousands

Taxpayer direct cost, Afghanistan/Iraq: $1.246 trillion

Total long-term taxpayer costs: +$4-6 trillion (Stiglitz-Bilmes)

Total U.S. active-duty military suicides, 2001-11: 2,276 (DoD)

How Could They Keep It Secret?

“Most people assume that for insiders to have pulled off 9-11 would have taken so many people that someone would have talked by now.

First of all, it seems likely that there were as few as roughly 140 people who were intimately involved in the details of 9-11. On this site,you can see pictures and a short bio of the 90 people who are highly likely to be the top criminal co-conspirators guilty of the planning, execution, and subsequent cover-up of the treason and mass murder that took place on 9-11.”

Dick Cheney is at the top of the list for obvious reasons as one of the leading members of the PNAC who advocated a new Peal Harbor. He ran a secretive shadow presidency under George W Bush, controlled the daily intelligence briefs to Bush and had his own intelligence department ~ with the Office Of Special Plans bypassing the CIA and directly sending him misinformation regarding Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. Cheney obviously had little respect for the constitution and Bill of Rights.

Who are on the List of Suspected 9-11 Criminal Co-conspirators?

“ This list was compiled after many hours of research. Many, if not most, of the people named here were very likely criminally involved in the planning, execution, and cover-up of the crimes of 9-11 ~ crimes which include mass murder, accessory to mass murder, and treason. There is a slim possibility that a few people named here should not be on this list. If evidence surfaces that would exonerate someone named here, their name will be removed.

Clearly, there are people who were involved who are not on this list; for instance, the people on the small team of demolition experts who actually wired WTC 1, 2, and 7 for demolition. We won’t have a final verdict on all of the perpetrators until a new and fully independent 9-11 investigation is launched that has the ability to subpoena documents and question suspects under oath.

As far as why no one has confessed, look at it this way: everyone involved in 9-11, even those only involved in the cover-up, are guilty of crimes for which they could possibly receive a death sentence if convicted. If that isn’t enough incentive to remain silent, I don’t know what is! How many times has a criminal ever confessed to a crime for which they were not even a suspect?! Criminals will only confess if they’re convinced they’ve been caught and they’re willing to make a deal for leniency if they reveal their cohorts.

Furthermore, when you read the names on the list of suspected perpetrators, you’ll see right away what a tight-knit little group it is. If there were even a shadow of a doubt about someone’s loyalty, they would not have been invited into this cabal.”

Of the 103 people named on the list of suspected 9-11 Criminal Co-conspirators there are: ( courtesy of www.whodidit.org )

22 current or former members of George W. Bush’s White House (21.4%);

4 current or former members of Congress (3.9%);

6 current or former FBI agents or officials (5.8%);

6 current or former CIA agents or officials (5.8%);

6 current or former officials of New York (5.8%);

12 former high-ranking USG military commanders (11.7%);or current

13 current or former (not included above) (12.6%);officials USG

12 current or former members of PNAC (11.7%);

16 consultants, lobbyists, or members of a “think tank” (not including PNAC) (15.5%);

But the number one co-conspirator or the face of the monstrous lie of 9/11 is Dick Cheney whose fingerprints were all over the tainted intelligence for attacking Iraq, Cheney had total control of NORAD on 9/11, Cheney fiercely resisted a 9/11 Commission inquiry and then would only testify with Bush and not under oath, Cheney was the strongest advocate for torture and rendition in order to obtain false confessions for the false flag operation that he either implemented or facilitated ~ and Cheney refused to stop the incoming missile or drone attack on the Pentagon on the morning of 9/11.

When Cheney was asked in a recent interview by Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes, “to respond to those who argue ‘the things that we did amounted to torture and the sense that maybe the moral position of the United States was eroded because of the things that we did here in this country.‘ Cheney arrogantly dismissed the question, saying they water boarded only ‘a handful’ of people, which, he claimed, ‘produced phenomenal results.’”

9/11 is the litmus test for all Americans. The fact that anyone can still believe the “official” story is a testament to the on going power of fear-induced denial and the bamboozle effect. Here’s an 8 minute video of that litmus test ~

As for Cheney ~ the die is cast. He will either be eventually indicted or forever be the face of the most monstrous and treasonous lie in American history. A lie that will never be forgotten or forgiven.

It was our founding father George Washington who prophetically wrote ~ “Should, hereafter, those incited by the lust of power and prompted by the supineness or venality of their constituents, overleap the known barriers of this Constitution and violate the unalienable rights of humanity: it will only serve to show, that no compact among men (however provident in its construction and sacred in its ratification) can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.”

Unfortunately, America has reached the point where protecting the government, as morally corrupt as it may be, is seemingly more important for our leaders than finding and excavating the truth of 9/11.

Chatter: Obama Sought Arrest of Bush and Cheney for 9/11 Treason

JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) Threat: Obama, Biden and Family to be Killed

By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

By 2006, rogue groups in the military, including members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, top Republican members of Congress, the Israeli lobby and most of the National Security Council had decided that Bush was a weakling, his brain addled from years of drugs, alcohol and the continual mumbling he referred to as “praying.”

Attempts to bring about the scheduled invasion of Iran, set in motion by General Petraeus in 2005, had failed. The coup attempt staged by the Air Force at Minot AFB, the seizure of a load of H bombs had been caught, those involved “accidented” and the Air Force, from then on no longer given any direct nuclear authority.

Two elections had been rigged to get Bush into office. 9/11, years in the planning, complex demolitions, radio controlled aircraft, SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) weapons developments, our biggest weapons secrets, were used on to flatten the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

This could all have happened years before if the removal of Clinton had been allowed to succeed, attempts to tie him to CIA drug running and then the “Lewinsiki affair.” As early as 1981, the elder Bush tried it too, 69 days into the Reagan presidency, John Hinckley, a mind control (MK Ultra) asset of the Bush CIA had tried to murder Reagan.

Soon after his election, President Obama was warned that if he did what he knew he must, jail at least 200 traitors, members of Congress, at least 3 Supreme Court justices and top officials of the White House and Pentagon, he would never have a presidency.

Obama in the Hot Seat

The economy had been gutted and he was told the CIA and military would kill his entire family if he interfered in their drug cartel, which controlled not only Afghanistan, a war he had to keep going forever, but Mexico as well, a border that would be kept open at all costs.

What had happened was simple. The CIA had always been in the drug business, long before Oliver North and Iran Contra, long before George H.W. Bush and the ‘Golden Triangle.’

The games Wall Street and the banksters were allowed to play, emptying the markets, collapsing the banks, gutting the dollar, few in the CIA or military understood them though they stole trillions.

The CIA and military and key leaders of congress saw the easy money, drug money, rendition flights filled with heroin, trucks filled with ecstasy and cocaine flowing in from Mexico while the infrastructure of gangs, starting with Arizona and New Mexico, California had long become ‘other than America,” would quickly spread across the United States, buying up local governments in communities from South Carolina to Maine to Idaho.

All that was needed was an open border, the money was there to buy that easily, the CIA’s cover to move drugs and money around the world under the guise of the “Global War on Terror” and the war in Afghanistan that President Obama had sworn to end, to go on forever.

Fighting for What? - and for Whom?

Opium fields would give way to heroin processing, a private air force of Defense Department and CIA contractors to move the product and a sea of diplomats and members of congress to move the money, using their immunity and the ability to transfer billions using paper financial instruments.

Standby Letters of Credit, that went from Dubai to Zurich inside a wallet like a wrapped condom.

What his advisors told him, some at least, is that unless President Obama were to press criminal charges against those tied to 9/11, not just torture and rendition, not falsified intelligence or election rigging, we mean exactly what is said, 9/11 itself, where the FBI had half its evidence, and, at the same time, remove all “Dominionist traitors” (their terminology), those working with General Jerry Boykin and Vice President Cheney, including the contractors of Blackwater, Xe, Dyncorp and other companies, it would be impossible to function as a free nation.

In August 2007, at least 6 nuclear warheads were stolen from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. The moment they were loaded, they disappeared from America’s nuclear inventory, “location unknown,” something that is not supposed to happen. There is no possible “misinterpretation” of orders, no mistake, no “wrong label” issue. These weapons were stolen, pure and simple.

Discussions of individual commanders having authority to deploy weapons, stories of accidents, confusion or political alignments within the Air Force are “red herrings.” Nothing is more controlled, more secure, more restricted, more classified, more protected than the nuclear arsenal of the United States. However, on that fateful day in 2007, a half dozen or more, hydrogen bombs, were plucked out of a secure bunker with no paperwork, no orders, nothing.

This is the military. People are jailed for losing flashlight batteries. They were loaded into the weapons bay of a B-52 long range bomber for transport to places unknown, for purposes unknown. The plane had no orders, was part of no mission, operated under no legal command structure, in fact, the moment the weapons were loaded, was no longer an American plane at all.

A mission, even under the most innocent possible circumstances, that would have required the knowledge of the President and his staff, certainly the Joint Chiefs of Staff and likely the National Security Council as well, seems to have authorized itself, out of “thin air.” Though the plane later landed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, there is no evidence supporting this as the intended destination, far from it.

The theft, hijacking, you pick the term, these are the best two so far, happened outside the command authority of the United States government, contravening all protocols for the storage, handling and deployment of nuclear weapons. The incident was also a violation of treaties requiring America to safeguard her stockpile of nuclear weapons, not just from environmental disasters but, as with this incident, from a mutiny by members of the military and civilian branches of our government, acting outside authority, acting as civilians, an act of piracy, mutiny, an act of insurrection.

All the things Israel warns America about every day, radical groups in Iran and Pakistan getting control of nukes really happened, but not with Muslim radicals and not in the Middle East, it happened here at home. The radicals were Christians, of a sort at least, possibly intent on Armageddon, maybe planning to sell the weapons to Iran or North Korea or, more likely, tucking them away for “a rainy day.” The Minot-Barksdale “incident” demonstrated, not only that a secret government exists but it is capable of waging, not only foreign policy but of mounting a credible thermonuclear threat to the world.

A “NOT SO COINCIDENTAL” COINCIDENCE

When a planeload of nuclear weapons is hijacked by an extremist organization tied to the highest levels of power in America, we might ask, why then? What was going on in America in August 2007? Did something happen then? Why were 6 nuclear weapons stolen at the exact same time America suffered the largest financial collapse, became the victim of the largest financial crime in world history? Is this a coincidence?

We know these things for sure:

•This was the 11th hour, the last minutes of the 11th hour, the last chance to begin a war with Iran. Iraq had been temporarily “stabilized” by massive bribes paid out under General Petraeus’ “Sunni Awakening” program, a ‘band-aid’ fix that would soon come apart, Afghanistan had become a hopeless quagmire and the public had turned on President Bush, giving him the lowest approval ratings of all time, leaving his presidency failed and discredited.

•What had begun as a minor mortgage crisis had revealed a deeper disease, the “toxic derivatives” schemes that would collapse America’s entire financial system. Only 5% of the mismanaged funds were mortgage related, 95% was a massive Ponzi scheme by “banks” that had taken to creating wealth out of thin air, underwriting the entire American economy, bond and stock markets, corporate earnings, pension plans, all backed by nothing at all. The money most American’s thought they had wasn’t even the “counterfeit” trash spewed by the Federal Reserve. It was, in fact, imaginary, soon to be gone, “poof!” How could 6 nuclear weapons, providing this was the only theft, something we may never learn, be used to cover the crimes of America’s entire financial community? What use of weapons of mass destruction would have changed the public’s perception, a public increasingly suspicious of the other great coincidence of all time, 9/11? Were weapons to be taken outside the country to attack others or to be brought back, a container in a seaport, a vending machine in a stadium, atop a missile, brought home? For years, the front men for the secret government, the ones easily recognized, had done little but prepare America for such an eventuality. With $12 trillion dollars “missing,” would the incineration of an American city be enough?

Why Did We Accept a 9-11 Rigged Inquiry

The real threats were dramatic. The transition team for Obama had more than enough evidence from “friendly” members of the 9/11 Commission. The world then, even without the “slam dunk” proof that Building 7 and the Pentagon missile attack have provided was simple enough. NORAD was on stand down.

Our satellite based air defense system, no, it hadn’t been “radar’ as claimed for over 20 years, had been disabled or its data destroyed. It sees all planes, flying, landing, who is in planes, how hot the engines are, can even pick up irregular handling and course issues not tied to turbulence.

Our real system has nothing to do with RADAR or what is seen on TV, this is fiction. Our real defenses are space based, can defend against, not only planes but cruise type missiles launched from submarines and even multiple warheads using sophisticated deception technology on ballistic missiles.

If an American Airlines pilot swerves lighting a cigarette in the cockpit while flying from Louisville to Wheeling, NORAD knows it, maybe even what brand.

The cover story given now, the recent leaks, just prior to the 9/11 10th anniversary are telling. Former CIA director and Defense Secretary Gates is now describing the enmity between Obama, Biden and Netanyahu. We now understand why millions in Zionist money, the Koch brothers cabal and the Mossad have been working so hard with neocons to brand Obama a socialist, a Muslim and even foreign born.

The Koch Brothers

Then the Koch brother hired “storytellers” to invent tales of Obama and the Chicago “Gay bathhouse scene,” stories carried by assets seldom exposed by anything this outlandish, folks usually used for “phony leaks” from imaginary “intelligence sources.”

When Obama, who had no private military capability of his own, no “hit squads” such as the GOP has with Blackwater, the threats against his family were real.

He could in no way retaliate or he and those close to him would suffer the same fate as John Wheeler III, victim of a street crime or Wisconsin Senator Paul Wellstone, who, with his entire family, were murdered in a staged plane crash.

With GOP/Pentagon/CIA rogue muscle to rent, the insurance and pharmaceutical industry, “clean coal” and nuclear power could suddely order “hits” like on the Sopranos, could and, were we to look more carefully, do.

If 3000 people could be murdered on 9/11 without the blink of an eye, the daughter of a president could be given cancer just as easily.

9-11 Satellite View - All Planes Can be Seen

The holes in 9/11, not just the ‘no plane hit the Pentagon’ issue but how planes disappeared from radar and nobody noticed, the failure to address that is epic. Planes weren’t on radar, not for security.

They were watched by satellite, optical, synthetic aperature radar and infrared censors, dozens of satellites whose algorithms watched them land, watched them unload, perhaps watched them replaced or simply repackaged for sale to Taiwan, a ‘rumor’ much less rumor than fact.

Those same satellites may well have watched the deaths of passengers, poison gas, pistol executions, bodies trucked to incinerators nearby. Too graphic for you?

If a plane hit the Pentagon, satellite footage showing every inch of its travel in resolution capable of counting the rivets exists as does synthetic aperture radar capable of telling you what kind of wrist watch each passenger wore.

What do you think we spend our billions on?

911 Comission Perjury Went Unpunished - Why?

Remember, many years ago, when Gorbachev was nearly over thrown but the CIA gave him no warning. Remember him saying, “The CIA can read license plates in Moscow and they couldn’t see armoured divisions closing in on the capitol?”

This was decades ago.

If you find Obama a disappointment perhaps you might remember, a few months ago, when he spoke of how difficult he found ‘asserting control’ over the Washington bureaucracy he inherited.

We, years ago, remember Mrs. Clinton telling us of a great conspiracy against the presidency. We were advised by TV talking heads to take these pronouncements as conspiracy theory.

These were blisters, those little areas where pus comes to the surface and the rot inside begins to seep out.

In a statement a year ago, CIA director Leon Panetta stated, almost cryptically, that “no one had heard anything from Osama bin Laden since late 2001.”

Similarly, Panetta and Gates over the past 2 years have declare the real strength of Al Qaeda, an organization many claim to be totally bogus in the first place, is down to “a dozen or less.”

What we have seen is the rise of a political movement meant to restore constitutional authority, authority that ended under Bush, authority Obama has proven too fearful to oppose, a movement that, instead, enslaved itself to, not only continuing the abuses of authority it said it opposed but set about dismembering the checks and balances the Obama administration put in place to stop economic piracy has had occurred during the Bush regime.

These are, perhaps, the only signs of there having been an Obama presidency at all, this and the hatred Israeli extremists have for President Obama whose public pronouncements of love for Israel put his own loyalty in question by many.

Joint Special Operations Command

What still exists is JSOC, an extra governmental organization of contractors, professional military free of command structure, of “freebooters” in uniform operating illegally inside the United States and around the world, accused of war crimes by dozens of nations.

Because of JSOC and its sister groups in the CIA and Homeland Security, few members of the Bush administration can travel outside the US at all. In fact, former President Bush has barely escaped war crimes arrests in both Switzerland and Canada.

Still, the billions flow, the heroin drowns the world, the cartels infiltrate every American town, our standard of living plummets and government is increasingly incomprehensible, or would be except for the occasional epithet such as this.

Around the world is has been a day to honour the dead and reflect on what was lost on that brutal September morning.

America has led the tributes to those lost, with families of the dead joining President Barack Obama and former President George Bush at a ceremony in New York at the site of the World Trade Centre where 2,753 were killed in the 2001 atrocity.

For family members, friends and colleagues of those who perished it is has also been a time to contemplate and mourn in their own way. And for each generation is has been different. Children born after the attacks arrived for the New York service holding teddy bears and tiny U.S. flags while adults knelt to pray and weep.

At Ground Zero the service took place in front of the memorial where the names of victims are carved into low walls surrounding two voids where the towers once stood. Water cascades down the walls of each of the voids into a pool. Some of the relatives took rubbings of their loved ones' names, while others simply placed their hands on the carved words

A moment alone: A bereaved family member mourns near the Wall of Names close to the crash site of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania

As a flute player gives a rendition of Amazing Grace a woman wipes away a tear during the ceremony marking the attacks on the Pentagon in Washington

Clutching a flag and a teddy bear in his hand this young boy is led by his sombre family to the 'check-in' area before the ceremonies attacks begin

Firefighters attend a wreath laying after a memorial service at St Paul's, London, and (right) standard bearers walk down the central aisle of the cathedral

Struggling against the wind and rain an American flag is unfurled close to the Eiffel tower in Paris

Helen Jordan of London reads ribbons of remembrance scrawled with prayers and messages at St. Paul's Chapel near Ground Zero

Paying their respects with their weapons at the ready U.S. soldiers stand to attention at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan during an anniversary ceremony. Ten years after the 9/11 attacks and after almost a decade war in Afghanistan, American soldiers paid their respects in a solemn observance of the tragic day.

Framed in time: A person holds a picture remembering a victim of the attacks during a ceremony in New York

as Vegas firefighter Capt. Eric Littmann (left) wipes away a tear as he walks in a parade commemorating the 2001 attacks in the Nevada city. Right, the names of firefighters from Ladder Company 20 that died at the World Trade Center are seen on the side of the Ladder 20 truck before today's ceremonies

In unison: Religious leaders attend a peace ceremony in Munich, Germany, to commemorate the victims of September 11

For whom the bell tolls: A bell is rung during the reading of the names of passengers and crew who died on Flight 93 during memorial services near the crash site in Shanksville (right) and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan (left) speaks during a 9/11 Memorial Mass Sunday at St Patrick's Cathedral

In memory: Flowers on the Brooklyn Promenade as the sun rises over Lower Manhattan on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11

Victims remembered: Elba Cedeno, of Waretown, New Jersey, holds a sign in memory of her partner, Cathy Smith

Solidarity: Commercial airline pilots pose for a group photo before a remembrance ceremony at the Garden of Reflection in Yardley, Pennsylvania

Respect for the dead: The U.S. flag flies at half mast on the U.S. Embassy in London before today's memorial ceremony

Tragic memorial: New Yorker Dawn Gordon-Wylie ties her own personal message ribbon on the fence of St Paul's Chapel on Broadway, two blocks from the World Trade Center site

Tears and tributes a decade on: How a nation remembered those who died in the 9/11 atrocities

As the city of New York marked the solemn memorial with twin towers of light beaming from Ground Zero into the night sky, across the country - and the world - those touched by the tragedy found their own way to remember the victims.

It has been ten years since terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing almost 3,000 men and women, but as these poignantly captured images show, their memory will not be allowed to die.

On a day of remembrance, which was rounded of with an address from President Barack Obama, Americans young and old joined to pay tributes both great and small.

In loving memory: A man walks past a memorial as the 'Tribute in Lights' illuminates the sky over lower Manhattan on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York

Haunting: Three thousand flags rise out of the mist at dawn on 9/11 in St Louis to commemorate the anniversary

Never forget: The 'Tribute in Lights' is seen over lower Manhattan, New York City, as two business men walk past the scene

Lanterns set afloat by Buddhist monks float on the Hudson river during ceremonies (left), while American flags float gracefully from the air in Middletown, Ohio, by a sky-diving team

Reflecting: US President Barack Obama speaks during 'A Concert for Hope' at the Kennedy Center on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in Washington DC

Along the waterfront: Larry Farrell photographs the Brooklyn Bridge and the Tribute in Light along the Brooklyn waterfront on the night of the anniversary

The Tribute in Light shines above Lower Manhattan (left), while President Barack Obama pauses during his speech in Washington to mark the anniversary on 9/11

Empty streets: As Manhattan's streets look bare, a couple watch the 'Tribute in Lights' near the World Trade Center site

Remembering with colleagues: Firefighters gather outside a bar next to the World Trade Center in New York

Tribute: Spot lights are pointed toward the sky commemorating the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks before game between the New York Jets and the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium

Fan cheer during the national anthem as a giant United States flag is held over Soldier Field in Chicago (left) and The Obamas walk away after visiting the crash site of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania (right)

From the sky: American flags float gracefully from the air in a breathtaking 9/11 tribute by a top sky-diving team in Middletown, Ohio

The sky-dive team: The team that flew the American flags from the sky - which was watched by 10,000 cheering onlookers from Middletown Regional Airport in Ohio

Flowers laid by family members of people killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks at the 9/11 memorial garden in London during the ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary

Forget me not: Children lay down white roses in memory of those who died in the attacks

They'll never keep us down: How Ground Zero is thriving with less than a month to go before tenth anniversary of 9/11

Amazing new photos show how out of the ashes of 9/11 has risen a new life that is dramatically transforming the Manhattan skyline.

The devastated area around the site of the two World Trade Center towers is once again becoming a vibrant neighbourhood packed with restaurants and hotels, places to live and spots to shop.

A decade after the attack on the World Trade Center, Lower Manhattan draws roughly 9 million of the city's nearly 50 million visitors a year, including the area around Ground Zero.

Transformed: These amazing pictures show how the Ground Zero site has been rejuvenated in the ten years since the September 11 attacks

The neighbourhood now has 18 hotels with more than 4,000 rooms, up from six hotels and 2,300 rooms on September 11 2001.

'It's a 24/7 neighbourhood,' said George Fertitta, chief executive of NYC & Company, the city's marketing and tourism arm. 'It's a great moment in time for Lower Manhattan.'

While local shopping, restaurants and other attractions abound, remembering 9/11 is the primary focus for many visitors.

The new memorial at ground zero will open on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy.

A museum will open at the site a year later under a glass atrium, taking visitors 70 feet down on gentle ramps to the very epicenter of what used to be 'the pit'.

Lighting the way: One World Trade Center was designed by renowned architect David Childs and was started in 2004

Memories: More than 2,700 people were killed when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked U.S. passenger jets and flew them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001

Ans van de Pasch, 49, of Venlo in southeastern Holland, first visited ground zero three years ago, peeking through masked fences like thousands of others.

This summer, the site is more visible and she brought her husband and two teens.

'There's a different spirit. You can feel the community is back,' Mrs Pasch said as they walked through the nearby St Paul's Chapel, where weary firefighters, police and volunteer rescuers sought refuge during their desperate work in 2001.

She wanted her kids to see the Ground Zero area for themselves. 'It's very necessary that you can have one moment in your life when you let yourself, as a citizen of the world, stop and think, “This must never happen again”.'

One World Trade Center now stands at 78 storeys and will eventually soar to 104 floors, or 1,776ft, becoming the tallest building in Manhattan when it's completed in 2013.

Memorial pools: The 9/11 Memorial is set within the footprints of the original Twin Towers. Each pool is each pool is 180ft by 180 ft and is about 50ft deep

Magnificent: One World Trade Center, which is set to be New York's tallest building, towers over the lower Manhattan skyline

The site will be a place of reflection and contemplation for many and The National September 11 Memorial And Museum, designed by the winning team of Michael Arad and Peter Walker, will be open in time for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The memorial is set in the footprints of the original twin towers among a small forest of oak trees in an eight-acre plaza.

It features two 50ft-deep pools, each containing fountains, along with a museum with exhibitions and artefacts to teach visitors about the events of September 11, which saw nearly 3,000 people lose their lives.

One World Trade Center, designed by renowned architect David Childs, standing in the north-west corner, is the site's centrepiece.

The first cornerstone was laid down on July 4 2004 and as the building rose it was known as Freedom Tower.

Liberty: One World Trade Center is taking its place in the distinctive Manhattan skyline alongside the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building

Sunset: The new World Trade Center buildings soar over New York's Hudson river on the west side of Manhattan

Now called One World Trade Center, it will include 2.6million square feet of office space, an observation deck over 1,241ft above ground, fine-dining restaurants and a sprawling public lobby boasting 50ft ceilings.

There will be eventually be six skyscrapers on the site altogether. The second tallest, designed by Britain's Norman Foster, will reach 88 floors, or a staggering 1,349 feet.

Known as Tower 2, and by its street address, 200 Greenwich Street, it will feature a lobby with a 67ft-high ceiling and 3.1million square feet of office space.

The third highest building will be 3 World Trade Center at 175 Greenwich Street. Designed by Richard Rogers, the 1,170ft-high skyscraper will house shops across several floors and 2.8million square feet of office space.

Reborn: Construction continues on One World Trade Center as the memorial footprints of the twin towers are seen

Memorial: The building works have rejuvenated the formerly devastated cityscape

Facing directly onto the Memorial Park will be 4 World Trade Center, standing 977 feet tall. Conceived by Maki and Associates, this is expected to become the new headquarters of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The fifth tower, 7 World Trade Center, was completed in 2006 and stands at 741feet tall. The original building collapsed when it was hit by debris from the North Tower.

The new structure is now home to the likes of Moody's Corporation and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Determined never to forget but perhaps ready to move on, the nation gently handed Sept. 11 over to history Sunday and etched its memory on a new generation. A stark memorial took its place where twin towers once stood, and the names of the lost resounded from children too young to remember terror from a decade ago.

In New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, across the United States and the world, people carried out rituals now as familiar as they are heartbreaking: American flags unfurled at the new World Trade Center tower and the Eiffel Tower, and tears shed at the base of the Pentagon and a base in Iraq.

It was the 10th time the nation has paused to remember a defining day. In doing so, it closed a decade that produced two wars, deep changes in national security, shifts in everyday life – and, months before it ended, the death at American hands of the elusive terrorist who masterminded the attack.

Dawn breaks over ground zero in lower Manhattan on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. The two memorial fountains, among the largest artificial waterfalls in the world, sit where the twin towers stood. (James Estrin/The New York Times) #

People pay their respects during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, outside the World Trade Center site in New York. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) #

Hikers unfurl a large flag on the top of Peak One of the Ten Mile Range outside of Frisco, Colo., Sept. 11, 2011. The Sunday following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, several dozen friends climbed the peak to raise an American flag, and on Sunday, many of the same group made a return trek. (Matthew Staver/The New York Times) #

Some of those attending the 10th anniversary commemoration of the attacks on the World Trade center sought out the engravings of loved ones' names on the walls surrounding the reflecting pool, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 in New York. Here, Corey Gaugioso traces the name of his sister, Candace Lee Williams, who was on Flight 11, which crashed into the same tower where she worked for Merrill Lynch. (AP Photo/David Handschuh, #

Construction cranes sit atop One World Trade Center as dawn breaks over the New York skyline on Sunday morning, Sept. 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks. (Librado Romero/The New York Times) #

People pause by the waterfall pool at the National September 11 Memorial before a planned ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks at the World Trade Center site, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) #

Robert Peraza, who lost his son Robert David Peraza in the attacks at the World Trade Center, pauses at his son's name at the North Pool of the 9/11 Memorial before the 10th anniversary ceremony at the site, Sunday Sept. 11, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Justin Lane, Pool) #

Police and firefighters march in formation as they carry a folded flag past one of the memorial pools at the Sept. 11 memorial, during the 10th anniversary observance of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, in New York,. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool) #

Members of the Texas State Guard 1st. Battalion, 1st. Regiment Alamo Guards stand by a piece of the World Trade Center during the City of San Antonio, Texas commemoration at Alamo Plaza, of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/The San Antonio Express-News, Jerry Lara) #

People listen during a memorial service at the Pentagon September 11, 2011 in Arlington, Virginia. Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Navy Admiral Mike Mullen and others attended the service at the Pentagon Memorial to commemorate the 10th anniversary the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images) #

A friar stands near a bunker coat and helmet belonging to FDNY chaplain Mychal Judge during a memorial service and dedication ceremony to induct the two items into the permanent display at the New York City Fire Museum on September 11, 2011 in New York City. New York City firefighters are commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and honoring the 343 firefighters who died in the line of duty. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) #

Firefighters attend a memorial service for firefighters killed on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on lower Manhattan at the Firemen's Monument at Riverside Park on September 11, 2011 in New York City. Firefighters from around the world have converged on New York to take part in the anniversary services. New York City and the nation are commemorating the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people after two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and one crash landed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) #

Family members look at the names of victims inscribed on the wall of one of the pools at the National September 11 Memorial during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 at the World Trade Center site in New York. (AP Photo/Lucas Jackson, Pool) #

Firefighters attend a memorial service for firefighters killed on 9/11 at the Firemen's Monument at Riverside Park on September 11, 2011 in New York City. Firefighters from around the world have converged on New York to take part in the anniversary services. New York City and the nation are commemorating the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people after two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and one crash landed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) #

Firefighters climb the stairs of the Pleasant Valley Drill Tower in Austin, Texas, during the 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. About 50 firefighters from several area fire departments participated in the event. Each firefighter climbed 108 flights of stairs - roughly the height of of the World Trade Center - to remember those firefighters who died in the 9/11 terror attacks. (AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Jay Janner) #

Celeste Pocher embraces her daughter after finding her brother in law's name, John Pocher at the north pool at the National September 11 Memorial during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks at the World Trade Center, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) #

A rider from the Ride 2 Recovery 9/11 Challenge walks through the Empty Sky memorial in Liberty State Park Sunday Sept. 11, 2011 in Jersey City, N.J. From Liberty State Park the ride will go to the United 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., and then on to the Pentagon in Washington DC, a total of 530 miles in 8 days. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein) #

New York Firefighter Zachary Fletcher embraces his mother Monica Fletcher after finding his twin brother Andre G. Fletcher's name engraved at the south pool of the National September 11 Memorial during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks at World Trade Center, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) #

New York City fire department paramedic John Rugen, center left, buries his face in his hand during a 9/11 memorial service at the Peace Arch-Douglas border crossing in Surrey, British Columbia, on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. Hundreds of people gathered at the Canada-U.S. border to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck) #

A U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant who asked that his name not be used, kneels near his father's name after a remembrance ceremony at the Garden of Reflection Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 in Yardley, Pa. The memorial honors nine people from Lower Makefield Township, where the memorial is located, eighteen people from Bucks County, and all 58 people from Pennsylvania that lost their lives in the attacks Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) #

Alicia Bergstein, center, comforts her children Devin Bergstein, left, and Adrianna Bergstein while visiting the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site in New York, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. Daniel Bergstein, Alicia husband and the childrens' father, was killed in the Sept. 11 2001 terrorist attacks. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool) #

Family members of those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks, gather at the edge of the north reflecting pool of the Sept. 11 memorial during 10th anniversary ceremonies at the site, in New York, Sunday Sept. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Chip Somodevilla, Pool) #

Roses are left on the bronze plaques that bear the names of the victims of the September 11 terror attacks on one of the reflecting pool walls at the Sept. 11 memorial, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 in New York. Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Chip Somodevilla, Pool) #

Andrew Kara, a U.S. Marine Corp veteran, right, and his girlfriend, Nicky Figueredo, who lost a friend in the Sept. 11 attacks, observe the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Sept. 11, 2011. (Michael Nagle/The New York Times) #

Mourners gather at the edge of one of the two memorial pools of the National September 11 Memorial in the World Trade Center site in New York during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. Some people wrote notes to their deceased loved ones when they found their names engraved on the edges of the pools. (AP Photo/Aaron Showalter, Pool) #

Michael Lira and his brother Kenny Lira's goddaughter Hailey Perez, 11, hold a photo of Kenny who was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, at the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Sept. 11, 2011. (Todd Heisler/The New York Times) #

A mourner traces the name of a victim of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 at the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site in New York. (AP Photo/David Handschuh, Pool) #

Madhu Narula, of Kings Park, N.Y., reacts after hearing the name of her daughter, Manika Narula, pictured on shirt below, as the names of the victims of 9/11 are read during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks at the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) #

People pay their respects during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, outside the World Trade Center site in New York. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) #

A woman cries while reading her father's name, as the victims of 9/11 are remembered during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks at the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) #

Family members share a quiet moment at the south memorial fountain at the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Sept. 11, 2011. (Todd Heisler/The New York Times) #

Jackie and Sam Sapio salute during the national anthem as they raise a large American flag from the ladder of a fire truck in a parking lot overlooking the Air Force Memorial and the Pentagon on September 11, 2011 in Arlington, VA. The group raised the same flag earlier in the day in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and will raise it later in New York City. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images) #

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk to the crash site of Flight 93 during their visit to the Flight 93 National Memorial Sunday, Sept., 11, 2011, in Shanksville, Pa., on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) #

Nancy Gregory, hugs her sons Carl, left, and Gregory as they pay their respects to her husband firefighter Ken Kumpel at the National September 11 Memorial during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks at World Trade Center, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) #

Garrett Hauck, 5, from Ballwin, Missouri, looks up at some of the of 2,996 flags planted on Art Hill in St. Louis on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 after a memorial service to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "People will ask him if he wants to be a baseball player when he grows up and he says no I want to be a firefighter," said his mother Carrie Hauck, not pictured, "He practically sleeps in this outfit." (AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, David Carson) #

Three thousand flags rise out of the mist at dawn on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 in Forest Park in St. Louis before the start of several ceremonies commemorating the 10 year anniversary of the terrorists attacks. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, J.B. Forbes) #

U.S. soldiers attend an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, at the U.S. of Bagram north of Kabul, Afghanistan Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq) #

Flower tributes to the victims of 9/11 terror attacks lay in the 9/11 Memorial Garden in London, after family members placed the flowers in memory of lost loved ones, during a ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Sunday Sept. 11, 2011. (AP Photo / Lewis Whyld) #

THIS YEAR will mark the 14th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. After years of effort and numerous setbacks, three of the proposed seven towers to be built at the World Trade Center complex have "topped out," reaching their structural maximum height. Seven WTC was completed in 2006, Four WTC topped out in June of this year, and the tallest, One World Trade Center (formerly known as Freedom Tower), just topped out at 104 floors on August 30. Financial difficulties have left the future of the remaining towers in doubt, and have raised concerns about the still-incomplete National September 11 Memorial and Museum, as the foundation that runs the memorial estimates that it will cost $60 million a year to operate. Gathered below are recent images of the rebuilding at ground zero in New York City.

As the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth (2005), the editor of THE 9/11 CONSPIRACY (2007), the chair of the Madison conference (2007) and the co-chair of The Vancouver Hearings (2011), it has been astonishing to me to discover that the atrocities of 9/11 were not simply allowed to happen but come closer to having been produced as a Hollywood-style spectacle, with phantom flights, faked phone calls, and fabricated crash sites. Anyone who wants to continue in a state of naive belief in their government as a nurturing institution that is dedicated to the best interests of the American people and to promoting their welfare should read no further, because 9/11 appears to have been a national security event that was approved at the highest levels of the Bush/Cheney administration, including the CIA, the Pentagon, the NSA and The White House itself. When consideration is given the the totality of the evidence, no alternative explanation is reasonable.

For those who find this difficult to believe, check out “Seismic Proof: 9/11 was an inside job” by Gordon Ross and Craig Furlong, who undertook the systematic study of reports from Willie Rodriquez, who was the senior custodian in the North Tower and reported that an enormous explosion had taken place in the subbasements even before there were any effects from the impact of a plane. They used very precise seismic data from a lab run by Columbia University and compared it with very precise FAA and military radar data and discovered that he was right: there had been explosions in the subbasements of both towers, which occurred 14 and 17 seconds prior to the hits of those planes on either tower. But this is only the tip of an enormous iceberg, which we can now seen encompasses the faking of the major events of 9/11, including the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville, the hit by Flight 77 on the Pentagon, and both Flights 11 hitting the North Tower and Flight 175 the South. It seems incredible, I know, but the evidence is there and, as I explain here, we know who the perps were who brought us 9/11. They were among the most familiar faces on our political stage at the time, actors one and all.

(#1) Evidentiary Submission #1 of 5 by James H. Fetzer

At the Vancouver Hearings, held 15-17 June 2012, judges asked participants to write an evidentiary submission of at least two persons regarding their complicity in the 9/11 plot.

Philip Zelikow

I submit the names of Philip Zelikow, Richard B. Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, and Lt. Col. Steve O’Brien, MNANG, based upon the facts as noted and sourced below.

Name: Philip Zelikow

Title at the Time of his Offense: Executive Director, The 9/11 Commission

Probable Cause: In his capacity as Executive Director of The 9/11 Commission and the principal author of its report, Philip Zelikow caused false claims to be disseminated about the events of 9/11, including the following:

(1) that Flight 11 had hit the North Tower;

(2) that Flight 77 had hit the Pentagon;

(3) that Flight 93 had crashed in Shanksville; and,

(4) that Flight 175 had hit the South Tower.

Information published in THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT (2004) regarding (1) though (4) is demonstrably false because:

(a) Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) records show that Flight 11 was not scheduled for 9/11;1

(b) BTS records show that Flight 77 was likewise not scheduled for 9/11;2

(c) FAA Registration Records show that the plane corresponding to Flight 93 was not deregistered (formally taken out of service) until 28 September 2005;3

(d) FAA Registration Records show that the plane corresponding to Flight 175 was likewise not deregistered (formally taken out of service) until 28 September 2005; 4

(e) Pilots for 9/11 Truth has established that Flight 93 was in the air but was over Champaign-Urbana, IL, subsequent to the time it was reported to have crashed in Shanksville,PA ; 5 and,

(f) Pilots for 9/11 Truth has also established that Flight 175 was in the air, but was over Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, PA, long after the time it was reported to have crashed into the South Tower. 6

Summary: Planes that were not even in the air cannot have crashed on 9/11; and planes that crashed on 9/11 cannot have still been in the air four years later. Zelikow appears to have been selected for his appointment as Executive Director of The 9/11 Commission, at least in part, because his area of academic expertise prior to joining the Bush administration turns out to have been “the creation and maintenance of, in his words, ‘public myths’ or ‘public presumptions’”.7 In addition to using flights that did not occur and crashes that did not take place, specifically:

(5) contrary to (1), Flight 11 did not hit the North Tower;

(6) contrary to (2), Flight 77 did not hit the Pentagon;

(7) contrary to (3), Flight 93 did not crashed in Shanksville; and,

(8) contrary to (4), Flight 175 did not hit the South Tower;

there is abundant additional proof that what the public was presented in THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT (2004) is itself a “public myth”, whose framework of four alleged “hijackings” and “plane crashes” is itself a contrived fabrication, which makes the person responsible for that report an accessory after the fact, as a person who assists in the commission of a crime by helping to cover it up.

Further proof that THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT was intended to deceive the American people includes that the government has not been able to prove the alleged “hijackers” were aboard any of those planes;8 several of them turned up alive and well after 9/11;9 and the phone calls alleged to have been made from the panes were faked10. Virtually everything it claims about 9/11 is false.

1 Edward Hendrie, 9/11: ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC (2011), p. 8.

2 Hendrie, p. 9 The BTS would subsequently revise its data base and thus make itself an accessory after the fact. See http://thewebfairy.com/holmgren/1177.html

(#2) Evidentiary Submission #2 of 5 by James H. Fetzer

At the Vancouver Hearings, held 15-17 June 2012, judges asked participants to write an evidentiary submission of at least two persons regarding their complicity in the 9/11 plot.

Richard B. Cheney

I submit the names of Philip Zelikow, Richard B. Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, and Lt. Col. Steve O’Brien, MNANG, based upon the facts as noted and sourced below.

Name: Richard B. Cheney

Title at the Time of his Offense: Vice President of the United States

Probable Cause: In his capacity as Vice President of United States, Richard Cheney issued orders that a plane approaching the Pentagon not be shot down, which thus allowed the plane to approach the building unimpeded. This appears to have been the plane that flew toward and then swerved over the Pentagon, while explosives were set off in the building, in an elaborate charade, which was used as the pretext for the following “declaration of war”, and to justify invasions of Afghanistan and of Iraq; and subsequently made false claims about the events of 9/11. Consider the following:

Department of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta tesified to The 9/11 Commission about his experience in the Presidential Emergency Operating Center with Vice President Richard Cheney, as (what would be identified as) American Airlines Flight 77 approached the Pentagon. According to Mineta, the vice president was asked about orders concerning the approaching aircraft:

There was a young man who had come in and said to the vice president, ‘The plane is 50 miles out. The plane is 30 miles out.’ And when it got down to, ‘The plane is 10 miles out,’ the young man also said to the vice president, ‘Do the orders still stand?’ And the vice president turned and whipped his neck around and said, ‘Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?’ Well, at the time I didn’t know what all that meant. 11

Commissioner Lee Hamilton queried if the order was to shoot down the plane, to which Mineta replied that he did not know that specifically.12 That interpretation, moreover, appears to be inconsistent with the aide’s concern. Since planes were being used as weapons, an order to shoot it down should not have caused any concern: You lose the pilots and the passengers, but not the personnel and the property that is being targeted. Instead,125 lives were lost at the Pentagon. 13

Mineta’s testimony to the Commission on Flight 77 differs rather significantly from the account provided in the 22 January 2002 edition of The Washington Post, as reported by Bob Woodward and Dan Balz in the series “10 Days in September”.14 This article reports that the conversation between Cheney and the aide occurred at 9:55 am, about 30 minutes later than the time Mineta cited (9:26 am) during his testimony to the 9/11 Commission. However, Cheney’s earlier arrival was independently confirmed both by Condoleezza Rice15 and by Richard Clarke. 16

Cheney’s remarks on “Meet the Press” (16 September 2001) support the earlier entry, 17 as does a newly discovered Secret Service document.18 The Woodward and Balz article thus appears to have been an effort to conceal his earlier arrival at the bunker, when the exchange with the aide occurred. Remarkably, the day after I appeared on “Hannity & Colmes” and reported Mineta’s testimony on FOX NEWS, 19 The White House announced that he had retired from the government. 20

SUMMARY: News leaks are a tried and true method for disseminating both true information (when it would be helpful) and false (when it would be more helpful). The Woodward and Balz article appears to have been intended to defect public attention from Cheney’s presence prior to the alleged hit on the Pentagon, since his order—that it not be shot down—facilitated the fabrication of a fake attack. It therefore reflects the consciousness of guilt, as did the abrupt “retirement” of the Transportation Secretary immediately after I publicized his story on FOX NEWS.

The Pentagon is among the most heavily defended building in the world. If the order had been to shoot it down, it would have been shot down. The plane now appears to have been a prop in an elaborate charade. This makes Cheney not only an accessory after the fact but an accomplice to the mass murder of 125 persons. While this aircraft itself does not appear to have been their cause of death (because they appear to have been killed by a series of explosions that simulated a plane crash), many of the dead were budget analysts and financial experts attempting to locate the $2.3 trillion Rumsfeld reported missing on 9/10.___________________

(#3) Evidentiary Submission #3 of 5 by James H. Fetzer

At the Vancouver Hearings, held 15-17 June 2012, judges asked participants to write an evidentiary submission of at least two persons regarding their complicity in the 9/11 plot.

Donald Rumsfeld

I submit the names of Philip Zelikow, Richard B. Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, and Lt. Col. Steve O’Brien, MNANG, based upon the facts as noted and sourced below.

Name: Donald Rumsfeld

Title at the Time of his Offense: United States Secretary of Defense

Probable Cause: In his capacity as the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld actively participated in arranging for the occurrence of the Pentagon attack and by making false claims about the events of 9/11, including the following:

(1) The SOP for interdicting hijacked aircraft was change on 1 June 2001 so that it would now require the personal authorization of the Secretary of Defense;1

(2) Rumsfeld claimed to be unaware of any threats to the Pentagon, where he was located during the 9/11 attacks, until Flight 77 crashed into the building;2

(3) Rumsfeld. Condoleezza Rice, and other officials claimed they had no idea that planes could be used as weapons, which is contradicted on many grounds;3

(4) The “official account” of the Pentagon attack is not only wholly unsupported by the available evidence but is neither aerodynamically nor physically possible:

(a) the plane is alleged to have skimmed the lawn at over 500 mph, but that is not aerodynamically possible due to the phenomenon of “ground effect”,4 which would preclude the plane getting any closer than 60’ of the ground;

(b) the plane is alleged to have taken out a series of metal lampposts without affecting its flight path, which is physically impossible, because they would have ripped the wing off the plane and caused its fuel to have exploded;5

(c) the alleged “hit point” in the building is too small to accommodate a 100 ton airliner, where there is no massive stack of aluminum debris, wings, tail, bodies, seats or luggage, and not even the engines were recovered;6

(d) even though the Pentagon is surrounded by cameras, the only frame that it has released shows the image of a plane far too small to have been a Boeing 757, so the government’s own evidence contradicts its own story;7

(e) after the civilian lime-green fire trucks had extinguished the modest fires, the Pentagon lawn was clear, green, and unblemished by any debris from the crash of a large airplane, which should have been widely distributed;8

(f) Major Gen. Albert Stubblebein, USA (ret.), who was formerly in charge of all us military photographic intelligence, confirmed that no large plane had hit the Pentagon based upon his careful study of photographic evidence;9

(g) Other witnesses and evidence, including April Gallup, photographic and video evidence, substantiates that no Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon and that, according to BTS records, Flight 77 was not even in the air on 9/11;10

(5) Secretary Rumsfeld predicts the Pentagon may be hit and is missing in action for at least 20 minutes before emerging on the lawn helping to carry the injured;11

(6) In his first public response, he accents that Secretary of the Army Tom White was responsible for “incidents like this”, shrugging off his own responsibility;12

(7) Tom White, a former Enron executive, had been appointed to that position on 31 May 2001, the day before the new hijacking instructions had been issued.13

SUMMARY: Even this brief and partial survey indicates that Donald Rumsfeld was too clever by half, appointing a patsy to take the blame the day before he changed the hijacking SOP, which appears to have been part of the plan to be sure there would be no NORAD response to the alleged hijackings. The claims made about “the Pentagon attack” are not only provably false but are not even aeronautically and physically possible. No reasonable alternative competes with the conclusion that Rumsfeld was a principal in planning the atrocities of 9/11, which not only caused the deaths of 125 persons who were in the building at the time but betrayed his responsibilities to the people of the United States as their Secretary of Defense, and deserves prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.

(#4) Evidentiary Submission #4 of 5 by James H. Fetzer

At the Vancouver Hearings, held 15-17 June 2012, judges asked participants to write an evidentiary submission of at least two persons regarding their complicity in the 9/11 plot.

Andy Card and George W. Bush

I submit the names of Philip Zelikow, Richard B. Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, and Lt. Col. Steve O’Brien, MNANG, based upon the facts as noted and sourced below.

Name: George W. Bush

Title at the Time of his Offense: President of the United States

Probable Cause: In his capacity as President of the United States, George W. Bush participated in planning the occurrence of and made false claims about the events of 9/11 to conceal their origins, an especially revealing example of which is a statement he made implicating himself. On 4 December 2001, in Orlando, FL, he said the following about his visit to Booker Elementary School on 9/11:1

“I was sitting outside the classroom, waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower. You know, the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly myself. And I said to myself, ‘Well, there’s one terrible pilot.’ It must have been a terrible accident.”2

The alleged first hit on the North Tower took place at 8:46 AM/ET to be followed by the alleged second on the South Tower at 9:03 AM/ET.3 Bush’s motorcade had left the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort to head to Booker at 8:35 AM/ET.4 He arrived there at 8:55 AM/ET.5 Bush was told of the second hit at 9:06 AM/ET.6

Once he learned there had been two attacks, there was no rational justification to think the first had been “an accident”. Bush and Condoleezza Rice would initially feign that of the first hit, but they could not possibly have known.7 And he cannot have seen the Naudet video, which would not be broadcast until 1 AM/ET, 9/12.8

(a) An effort has been made to dismiss Bush’s remark about having seen the first hit “on television” as having been a mistake;9

(b) but he would repeat the same story during a town meeting in Ontario, CA, 5 January 2002, including having viewed it on TV;10

(c) a National Geographic Special that almost certainly included his recitation of his television viewing experience has been pulled;11 and,

(d) another—which is an obvious attempt to revise history–has been made available instead, where he recounts his story very differently:12

“I had been notified that a plane had hit the WTC. At first I thought it was a light aircraft. And my reaction was, ‘Man, either the weather was bad or something extraordinary happened to the pilot’. I then informed some of my staff members to provide help to New York City—whatever help was needed—and walked into the classroom”.

SUMMARY: President George W. Bush committed a gaffe when he spoke about his experiences on 9/11, candidly revealing that he had seen the first hit on TV, which has to have occurred while his motorcade was en route between Colony Beach and Tennis Resort and Booker Elementary School. This means that the Secret Service had a television camera focused on the North Tower when only those involved in planning the events of 9/11 would have had reason to watch the side of WTC-1. He could not have seen the hit on TV any other way. Eager to convey the impression he thought it was “an accident”, he revealed too much.

Removing “George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview” and the substitution of another in which he contradicts his previous reports displays consciousness of guilt and the desire to tamper with evidence. But it was a risk that had to be run, because his having watched the first hit on Secret Service television was such an obvious indication of governmental complicity in 9/11. Given our other findings, such as:

(1) the fabrication of the four “crash sites” (see Evidentiary Submission #1);

(2) the failure to prove any of the “hijackers” were aboard any of the planes;13

(3) the faking of the phone calls alleged to have been made from the planes;14

and further forms of proof,15 it becomes increasingly apparent that the atrocities of 9/11 was a national security event that was approved at the highest levels of the American government, including The White House, NSA, CIA, Joint Chiefs and Department of Defense, where even the president appears to have been an accessory to the crime and to have committed treason against the United States.

(#5) Evidentiary Submission #5 of 5 by James H. Fetzer

At the Vancouver Hearings, held 15-17 June 2012, judges asked participants to write an evidentiary submission of at least two persons regarding their complicity in the 9/11 plot.

Lt. Col. Steve O’Brien

I submit the names of Philip Zelikow, Richard B. Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, and Lt. Col. Steve O’Brien, MNANG, based upon the facts as noted and sourced below.

Name: Lt. Col. Steve O’Brien, Minnesota Air National Guard (MNANG)

Title at the Time of his Offense: Pilot of C-130H circling the Pentagon on 9/11

Probable Cause: Among the most striking and indisputable aspects of 9/11 was the utter failure of NORAD, the NMCC and the FAA to coordinate any military response to (what were alleged to have been the hijacking of four commercial carriers, spanning an interval of time from 8:14 AM/ET, when the first reports of the possible hijacking of Flight 11 surfaced until after the Pentagon had been “hit” by Flight 77 at 9:38 AM/ET, over 1:14 hours later, even though a response to a hijacking should have taken less than 10 minutes.1 The failure to follow SOP is so blatant that there is no reasonable alternative to a deliberate “stand down”.2

THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT (2004), minimizes the absence of response and the time available to scramble fighters as if it was an innocuous event.3 One of the most peculiar aspects of the Pentagon attack is how our nation’s military leaders could not have known that a plane was approaching the building.4 This appears to be untrue on at least two grounds: first, that Vice President Cheney had been informed by an aide that a plane was headed toward the building by an aide and issued an order that the plane not be shot down (see Submission #2).

Another is that Lt. Col. Steve O’Brien was piloting a military C-130H cargo plane (call named, “Gofer 06”) in the vicinity of the Pentagon, where he and his crew were reported to have witnessed the crash of Flight 77 into the building as well as the crash of Flight 93 into the ground at Shanksville.5 Since O’Brien is said to have followed Flight 77—and to have identified it as a Boeing 757—it appears to be impossible that Pentagon officials, with whom he was in radio communication, could not have known a plane was approaching. The “official account” cannot be true, since it violates laws of aerodynamics and of physics (see Submission #3).

At 9:42 AM/ET, the FAA directed that all planes in the air should land6—minutes after the purported plane crash—but Gofer 06 remained airborne, apparently to perform a task essential to the cover-up. That no Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon is not only established by the impossibility of the official trajectory—just skimming the ground at over 500 mph and taking out a series of lampposts without damage to the plane or affecting its trajectory—but also by the virtual absence of debris appropriate to the crash of 100-ton airliner: no massive pile of aluminum debris, no wings, no tail, no bodies, seats or luggage, such as would be expected.7 Not even the engines, which are virtually indestructible, were recovered from the site.

Photographs of the clear, green, Pentagon lawn—over 30 minutes following the attack, when a section of the building collapsed—display a stunning absence of debris.89 As even Jamie McIntrye reported live on CNN, there was no indication that any large plane had crashed anywhere near the Pentagon.10 Pieces of plane fuselage and other debris would show up on the lawn, even though no plane had crashed there, which raises the question of where it came from. It would have been awkward to have officers or enlisted men carry pieces of debris out on the lawn, but it would not have been difficult to have dropped it from the C-130H that O’Brien was piloting. One especially notable piece of fuselage has been tracked back to the crash of a Boeing 757 that had occurred in Cali, Columbia, in 1995.11

SUMMARY: Debris that appeared on the Pentagon lawn more than 30 minutes after the alleged crash of Flight 77 cannot have come from a non-existent crash and must have been planted by military personnel or dropped from the C-130H that was circling the building. When I explained to the BBC that it had to have come from the plane for its second “Conspiracy Files: 9/11 Ten Years On”, they featured Lt. Col. Steve O’Brien, who expressed disgust at the implication that he had participated in faking the plane crash by dropping debris from his plane.1213

But there is no reasonable alternative. The allege crash did not occur and any claims to have seen the plane hit the building cannot be true. It would have been impossible for the cargo door of his C-130H to open for the drop and the pilot be unaware of it; moreover, the C-130H is a special version with electronic warfare capabilities and may have played other important roles on 9/11.14 The evidence thus substantiates that Lt. Col. O’Brien remained airborne because he was “on a mission”, complicit in the crimes of 9/11, and actively engaged in their cover-up.

1 An excellent discussion is David Ray Griffin, THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT: OMISSIONS AND DISTORTIONS (2005), Chapter 11. “NMCC” is the National Military Command Center.

One World Trade Center stands tall on the skyline of New York's Lower Manhattan as a man takes a picture from a pier in Hoboken, New Jersey, on September 9, 2012. The price tag for the skyscraper was valued at $3.8 billion earlier this year, making it the world's most expensive new office tower. Most of the cost overruns are due to the security measures being taken in the design of the building which sits on a site that has been bombed twice by terrorists. To offset the costs of One World Trade Center, which is being built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, higher bridge and tunnel tolls have been instated and there has been a reduction in spending on transportation infrastructure. The 1,776-foot skyscraper is expected to be completed by late 2013 or early 2014.(Reuters/Gary Hershorn)

An ironworker walks a beam at Three World Trade Center, Monday, June 25, 2012 in New York. The 72-floor, 977-foot tower is scheduled to open late next year. It's expected to be the first tower completed on the 16-acre site since the 9/11 attacks. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #

Construction continues at the World Trade Center in New York, on July 19, 2012. The Vehicle Security Center is at left, and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum is in the center. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #

One World Trade Center, viewed from the 72nd floor of Four World Trade Center, on September 7, 2012 in New York City. As New York City and the country prepare for the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, work proceeds at the former site of the World Trade Center Towers. The 16-acre site, which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and is being rebuilt with developer Larry Silverstein, has a projected price tag of $14.8 billion. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #

US Marine Cpl. Mark Litynski of New Hope, Minnesota, looks up at One World Trade while visiting the 9/11 Memorial at ground zero in New York, on July 4, 2012. Litynski was visiting the memorial with other wounded veterans as a part of a trip organized by the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which is helping to build accessible homes for the wounded veterans. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) #

The base of one of the cranes used to raise heavy material stands inside the top floors of One World Trade Center as the building nears 100 stories tall in New York, on March 23, 2012. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson) #

Construction workers move a piece of steel at the World Trade Center transportation hub in New York, on July 19, 2012. The hub, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, will connect suburban commuter trains with New York's subways. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #

Construction continues beneath the arched columns of the East-West Corridor at the World Trade Center site, in New York, on September 7, 2012. The subterranean corridor will connect several buildings with the transportation hub. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #

The under-construction One World Trade Center (center) stands over the World Trade Center construction site and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York's Lower Manhattan, on August 24, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson) #

The 9/11 Memorial, during a ceremony for recovery workers and first responders on the 10-year anniversary of the formal end of cleanup operations at Ground Zero on May 30, 2012. Thousands of men and women came to Ground Zero following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to help with the recovery effort. Numerous first responders, including police and fire fighters, have subsequently been plagued with health issues many believe are related to the air they breathed in the weeks and months following the attacks. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #

A square pool, center, at the National September 11 Memorial is surrounded by ongoing construction, Sunday, April 1, 2012 at the World Trade Center in New York. The steel framework, lower left, for the Vehicle Security Center rises next to the excavated area, lower center, of the former Deutsche Bank building. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #

The World Trade Center construction site, reflected in the windows of 4 World Trade Center in New York, on July 19, 2012. The National September 11 Memorial is upper left, and the transportation hub is upper right. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #

An ironworker prepares a steel column before connecting another column at One World Trade Center on the day it became New York City's tallest skyscraper, Monday, April 30, 2012 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #

A view from one of the top floors of the new One World Trade Center building, which is under construction on the site of the destroyed original World Trade Center, on April 30, 2012. The building is expected to reach its full height next year, when it will likely to be declared the tallest building in the United States and the third-tallest in the world. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #

Ironworkers James Brady, left, and Billy Geoghan release the cables from a steel beam after connecting it on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center, on August 2, 2012 in New York. The beam was signed by President Barack Obama with the note: "We remember, We rebuild, We come back stronger!" during a ceremony at the construction site June 14. Since then the beam has been adorned with the autographs of workers and police officers at the site. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #

Signatures of officials and construction workers are written on the final steel beam to be installed on 4 World Trade Center during a ceremony to mark its installation in New York, on June 25, 2012. (Reuters/Keith Bedford) #

One World Trade Center, center, rises above the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center, on September 6, 2012 in New York. The World Financial Center is on the left, and Four World Trade Center is at right. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #

The Tribute in Light for the Twin Towers illuminates the sky in Lower Manhattan near the One World Trade Center construction site, left, seen from Jersey City, New Jersey, in honor of the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, on September 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) #

The Statue of Liberty, with One World Trade Center lit up in red, white and blue in the background, two days ahead of the Fourth of July holiday as seen from Bayonne, New Jersey, on July 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

IN THE DARK: AMERICA'S DESCENT INTO A POLICE STATE

Top US officials are reported to have been selling US nuclear weapons secrets around the world as part of a spy ring which includes members of Congress from both parties. These and other accusations are broadly substantiated, but only by the American Conservative and newspapers around the world, including significant revelations about a 9/11 coverup. How can this be done in a "free country?"

Massive penetration of, not only Congress, but the Pentagon and State Department are outlined in detail, naming those involved and how it was done. Foreign intelligence agencies from Israel, Turkey and Pakistan, regularly accessed highly classified information and sold it around the world, even to terrorist organizations.

If 9/11 was a terrorist attack, inside job or planned to drag the US into an endless war in the Middle East for some other purpose, the information needed to plan the attacks was sold or given away by high ranking Americans who were under investigation by the FBI until 2001.

That investigation was ended by the Bush Administration and buried using States Secret Privilege, leading to the biggest espionage disaster in American history. This doctrine, since 2001, has been used to end nearly every aspect of accountability in our government. Any information can be withheld from Congessional investigations, such as with the 9/11 Commission and any whistleblower can be silenced, even those reporting threats to national security, as with Sibel Edmonds.

"John Ashcroft’s Justice Department confirmed Edmonds’s veracity in a backhanded way by twice invoking the dubious State Secrets Privilege so she could not tell what she knows. The ACLU has called her “the most gagged person in the history of the United States of America.”"

Since 2001 and continuing thru with President Obama, a regime of suppression and disinformation has taken over in Washington, totally unaccountable to Congress or the people. With the destruction of any ability for a people to make an informed decision through state secrecy laws without oversight and limit, there can be no democratic rule.

What are the basic mechanisms to overthrow a democracy?

If you control three institutions, you control a nation. First is the press. If you can manipulate the news, suppressing stories, stopping investigations and protecting "flawed" individuals while making the public look under their beds for imaginary enemies, your power is almost unlimited.

Second is government itself. If you can control government by putting the real power in the hands of a few committee chairmen or key "deal makers" and can flood the system with dirty money, there will be no real investigations, only coverups and no real laws, only raids on the public treasury by the powerful while crumbs are passed out to others.

Third is public opinion. Turning an intelligent electorate into a howling mob requires an endless series of both outlandish conspiracies and real threats, the truth behind all being misdirected through a concerted effort to divide a populace and keep them at each other, even to the brink of civil war, all to protect the economic cabal growing fat off "terror war" and "deregulation," a buzzword for massive theft.

When former FBI translator, Sibel Edmonds, reported that Osama bin Laden was an active US asset up to the second the planes hit the twin towers on 9/11, she was put under Patriot Act gag orders by Attorney General John Ashcroft that lasted for years. Now that she is speaking, laying out facts supported by key FBI and CIA experts, nothing is hitting our papers. How bad are the facts being kept from us?

While we were pretending to use our Patriot Acts to defend America through torturing suspects to get the truth, we are learning that much more of that coerced testimony may have been gathered to support a wide coverup of government crimes, many at the highest level. Our questions regarding Edmonds and the extent of what her charges mean are several:

How can an FBI investigation of this scope be ended so quickly without any information reaching the public? We have come to believe that everything is leaked? How is such control maintained?

When a story like this is broken, why is there no followup investigation by the FBI, Congress or any attempt by investigative reporters, outside a few, to tell the American people the truth?

Why has President Obama kept the same repressive and illegal policies in place that were used by the Bush administration?

We are well beyond conspiracy theory. With the ability of our government to silence this story, which undermines the official versions of nearly everything from 9/11 to the most basic aspects of our national security, can any version of anything, investigated or not, commissions or not, ever be taken as more than part of the real conspiracy behind the conspiracies?

We have long accepted that our government was for sale to the highest bidder and that our press sold its soul after 9/11 for the privilege of being fed lies and continual access to more of the same. Anyone breaking with the crowd was cut off, denied access and pushed out.

A government operating in secret is, in itself, a conspiracy. Everyone working to stifle open government, end challenges to government power and continue down this path is a part of this conspiracy. They are working against, not only the idea of democracy, but against the lives of everyone living in America. This has left Americans subject to war for profit, rigged elections, economic slavery at the hands of financial pirates and the Obama administrations willingness to continue Bush era policies to impoverish working Americans.

The saddest part of this is the willingness of millions of Americans to join in to silence any movement for a free government. Under the guise of patriotism, extremist groups, funded and organized, sometimes publicly, sometimes secretly, by special interest and supported by massive press organizations, some under foreign control,

Groups clamoring for "freedom," sometimes armed, are working feverishly on behalf of war profiteers, foreign spy agencies and criminal elements in our power elite. Why is suppressing the truth about 9/11 a way of making us free? Why is challenging the oil and defense cartels considered fascism?

The real goal is power, economic power. Stealing oil, running drugs and looting our defense budget is only part of it. With continual talk about conspiracies, Zionists, Socialists and endless cabals running a secret government, the real power, the multinational corporations and banking consortiums that control the Federal Reserve system, set oil and commodity prices, manipulate currencies set the course of human history, all unseen, have been around for decades.

Governments come and go, elections, real or rigged, assassinations, coups, none of it means much. Even the most secure democracy can be taken down by a handful of dedicated men, be they terrorists, spies or foreign agents. 9/11 proved that.

If only the intelligent can see and understand the danger, then the real cabal attacks the intelligent as "liberal" and "weak."

If the patriotic and brave become a danger, send them to war or give them an imaginary enemy, fill the news with warnings and alerts.

If an investigation starts, channel it into a pet "paid off" Congressman or two and feed it lies. Lying is now an honorable part of our national secuity effort.

If someone stands up, what happens? With Edmonds, John Ashcroft issued executive orders to have her silenced. Others are called "truthers" as a way of discrediting them. How have we sunk to the point where asking for the truth can discredit someone?

If a story threatens to break, debunkers, agents of the cabal, jump on it immediately. They come in two flavors:

Debunkers present wild and implausible explanations attacking eye witness testimony, science and even video evidence using sarcasm and backed by powerful organizations. Debunkers need prove nothing, only claim, with no accountability, that they have "debunked."

Debunkers also join any investigation but lead it to the "Twilight Zone." Every legitimate story is dumped on the door of "Zionists" or space aliens by this type of debunker. They take plausible attacks on government lies and poison them with insane speculation in order to discredit anyone asking for a legitimate investigation.

Today, as usual, America is divided and moving toward a period of domestic discord and even home grow terrorism. Our military forces have become a prime recruiting ground for the corporate cabal. Every group that is easily influenced and easily misinformed, military, police, gun owners or those in isolated rural areas, are subject to wild stories of race war, imaginary Communist takeovers or worldwide Jewish conspriacies.

Whatever is blown up, a nuclear plant, a famous bridge or monument, the result will be the same:

More oppressive laws

More defense spending

More taxes or more debt

More dead American soldiers

More high prices for gas

More and more pundits on TV crying about socialism

It doesn’t take a genius to understand any of this. We love watching movies and TV shows about government conspiracies idential to the one we really seem to have. Where is the line? How much has to be lies before we have become the thing we fear most of all, a police state?

Oil Companies together with the Bush and Trump administration have kept the global warming debate alive long after most scientists believed that global warming was real and had potentially catastrophic consequences. We need to be aware and to change this policy before we get to the point of no return............Amor Patriae

Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he was given. But up to now he has not been a creator, only a destroyer. Forest keep dissapearing, rivers dry up, wild life's become extinct, the climate's ruined, and the land grows poorer and uglier everyday.....Anton Chekhov

Gen. Gregorio del Pilar, P.A.

From morning till noon he repealed charge after charge tenaciously with a handful of men through the heat and agony of battle till he fell dead among his slained soldiers, On this mountain summit overlooking the plains and shores of his country a massive tremendous altar......